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Environmentalists need the Justice Division to carry Massive Oil accountable and suppose Kamala Harris is the correct particular person to make that occur if she is elected president. The premise for any prosecution can be the a long time Massive Oil and its related fossil gas corporations spent spreading local weather disinformation, not the precise hurt to the setting achieved through the use of their merchandise, the environmentalists informed The Guardian. Forty US states and municipalities have sued Massive Oil for allegedly spreading local weather disinformation.
For years, environmentalists and a few lawmakers have stated the Division of Justice ought to file an identical case. To this point, it has failed to take action, even whereas Joe Biden, who ran on a climate-focused agenda, has been in workplace. “We get the sense that [the Biden attorney general] Merrick Garland has no interest in pursuing this issue,” stated Richard Wiles, president of the non-profit Middle for Local weather Integrity, which helps local weather litigation.
Harris Is Good Particular person To Prosecute Massive Oil
That might change beneath Kamala Harris’s management, stated Jamie Henn, director of the local weather accountability non-profit Fossil Free Media, who lately wrote that Harris is the “perfect person” to prosecute the case. He’s calling on Harris to make local weather accountability a precedence by empowering federal regulators to focus on alleged value gouging from oil corporations and appointing an legal professional normal who’s keen to guide a brand new lawsuit on behalf of the Division of Justice — which operates independently of the White Home. “It’s to be determined if she’s really willing to take all this up,” he stated. “But I think that there’s a lot of signs that she could and she has the ability.”
We right here at CleanTechnica can consider a number of perfect candidates for the job. Sheldon Whitehouse, the junior senator from Rhode Island, has been a fierce and unflinching critic of the fossil gas trade for his whole political profession. He apparently just isn’t on Harris’ quick record of vice chairman candidates, however he can be perfect as Legal professional Basic. He additionally has not been shy about getting up within the grille of the correct wing lunatics on the US Supreme Court docket — one other checkmark within the plus column for Whitehouse. Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland is one other naked knuckled brawler who can be an excellent alternative for AG, as would Adam Schiff of California.
Harris Confronted Massive Oil As Legal professional Basic Of California
Earlier than serving as a US senator and vice chairman within the Biden administration, Harris was California’s legal professional normal from 2011 to 2017. In that function, she launched an investigation into how ExxonMobil selected to border its place on local weather dangers in January 2016.
That spring, she additionally gained a significant indictment in a felony case towards the Plains All-American Pipeline over an oil spill in Santa Barbara. Harris moreover performed a key function in touchdown a $15 billion settlement from Volkswagen after the Environmental Safety Company discovered it had illegally put in software program in diesel autos to cheat on emissions testing. Months later, she secured a $14 million settlement from BP subsidiaries over fees associated to leaking underground gas storage tanks.
Throughout her time because the legal professional normal of California, she additionally went after ConocoPhillips — the corporate behind the controversial Willow oil drilling undertaking in Alaska — for air high quality violations at their fuel stations — and filed different lawsuits towards Chevron and the Southern California Gasoline Firm. She additionally efficiently sued the Obama administration over its plans to allow fracking within the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, which demonstrated an “impressive” willingness to “even stand up to Democrats,” stated Henn. “She’s got a strong background on going after big polluters, so when it comes to pressing this case, she’s the right person for the job,” he added.
Harris voiced assist for local weather litigation throughout her 2019 presidential major marketing campaign, telling Mom Jones that the US Division of Justice ought to “absolutely” examine fossil gas corporations for “creating incredible harm in our communities. It’s about having the conviction to take these guys into court and to hold them accountable,” she stated. “Let’s get them not only in the pocketbook, but let’s make sure there are severe and serious penalties for their behavior.”
Harris Calls Out Trump
In her first marketing campaign speech in Milwaukee final week, Harris known as out Donald Trump for his ties to the oil trade, citing studies that the previous president “literally promised big oil companies and big oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.” That makes a few of us marvel if the previous president may very well be indicted for corruption. If some other politician did such a factor, the authorities can be throughout him like white on rice, and it’s not like his saying it was a part of any official duties as a sitting president — the “get out or jail free” card handed to him by a compliant Supreme Court docket on July 1. Maybe this administration doesn’t wish to pull that lever so near the election, but it surely ought to accomplish that on November 6, simply as quickly because the voters make Kamala Harris the following president of the US.
Different statements by Harris are usually not what environmentalists wish to hear, nevertheless. Simply this week she stated she wouldn’t ban fracking if elected, strolling again on statements she made in 2019. In 2015, she filed an opinion claiming a California-wide fracking ban can be unlawful. “We’ve seen two different sides of Kamala Harris: she’s a really inspiring candidate when she embraces progressive issues and picks big fights, and then she can fall flat when she becomes too cautious,” stated Henn.
In an emailed assertion to The Guardian, the American Petroleum Institute stated, “Any future administration should be focused on building on the progress the US has made in leading the world in both energy production and emissions reductions.” It known as the demand for Harris to give attention to local weather accountability a “distraction.”‘
Whereas Richard Wiles is optimistic in regards to the prospects of litigation from states and municipalities bringing forth local weather accountability, he believes a swimsuit introduced by the Justice Division can be much more highly effective, in that it might forestall the fossil gas trade from circulating deceptive claims in regards to the local weather disaster and stop greenwashing. “The DoJ is a completely different animal,” Wiles stated. “Its power is far greater than any attorney general’s office in a state. They have the FBI, they have a lot more investigative resources, and they’ve got a lot more authority than a state attorney general is ever going to have.”
Henn stated if Harris commits to going after the oil trade, she might drum up assist from younger voters. Such a transfer might even excite Republicans who’re involved about company overreach, he stated. A survey from the progressive polling agency Information for Progress earlier this 12 months discovered {that a} majority of voters assist local weather accountability litigation.
The Takeaway
One of the best ways to cope with a bully is to punch him (it’s very often a him) within the nostril. It has been proven to be efficient with sharks and bears and it has served Harris properly as far as she has efficiently blown the smoke despatched her means by a disgraced former president again in his path fairly efficiently. There isn’t any greater bully on the block in America (and most different international locations) than Massive Oil and the remainder of the fossil gas trade, which has achieved a lot to demonize local weather science, clear vitality applications, electrical vehicles, and some other concepts which may diminish the outrageous earnings they’ve made by destroying the setting for his or her non-public achieve.
It could be such a pleasure to see Charles Koch and his slimy coterie of pals get the comeuppance they so richly deserve. Is Kamala Harris the one to do it? We sincerely hope so.
