Sept. 17, 2024, 5:33 p.m.
Despite launching some of the nation’s most ambitious climate programs, President Biden has received sharp criticism from environmentalists for not going far enough to stop the exploration and development of fossil fuels.
Vice President Kamala Harris has met a different reception from environmentalists over the last several weeks. Since entering the race as Biden’s replacement atop the Democratic ticket, she has been celebrated by environmental activists despite having backtracked on key positions, including a fracking ban and embrace of the Green New Deal.
So why the seeming double standard?
Aseem Prakash, a University of Washington political science professor who focuses on environmental policy, attributed the change to one factor: “Pennsylvania.”
It was a reference to what pundits view as a key swing state Harris must win to capture the White House. Fracking—the practice of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas or oil from tight rock formations—is an important part of the Keystone State’s economy, providing thousands of high-paying jobs that would be lost if a ban took effect.
Some attribute the lack of criticism against Harris to excitement around a new candidate, especially one whose race and gender embody the type of societal change progressive voters are championing. Others cite her liberal past with a hope she’ll push for deeper change once she’s in the White House. And some simply look at the alternative: former President Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and vowed to “drill, baby drill” if he’s elected in November.
“It's not that people loved Harris,” Prakash said. “It was that Biden is out and Harris could be able to provide a viable competition to Donald Trump.”
Biden claims the title as the most climate-friendly president ever, after rolling out the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which included billions to build a national network of electric-vehicle chargers, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included a slew of renewable-energy tax credits. His administration also has rolled out numerous regulations aimed at containing methane emissions, curbing carbon pollution, and promoting electric vehicles.
But those haven’t been enough to silence the qualms of many climate activists. They criticized him earlier this year for scaling back his bold timetable to speed up the sales of electric vehicles. And they denounced the administration’s approval of one of the largest oil-drilling projects in Alaska at a time when the U.S. is producing more oil than any country ever has.
“There is disappointment. There is anger. There is frustration,” Lori Lodes, the executive director of Climate Power, an environmental-advocacy group, told the Associated Press last year after Biden approved the Willow project.
But Biden's mere presence on the ticket drew concern as well, said Kevin Curtis, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund.
“The vast majority of our colleagues and supporters appreciated how great the Biden-Harris administration had been on climate, but they just weren't enthusiastic about voting for basically their grandfather,” Curtis said.
As is typical of vice presidents wary of crossing their bosses, Harris has adopted Biden’s stance on many climate issues, including his opposition to a ban on fracking.
In last week’s debate with Trump, Harris doubled down, saying she was “the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking."
"My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil," she said. "We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over-rely on foreign oil.”
Nonetheless, progressives and environmentalists kept up their enthusiasm for her.
“She's not going to completely do away with oil in the first term or anything like that, but she does believe we need to rapidly go towards a new green economy,” progressive Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost told National Journal. “She does understand the climate crisis, and she does understand that we have to have metrics and deadlines for this that we need to meet.
“That's why the climate community is excited about Kamala Harris. She cast that defining vote for the inflation Reduction Act,” Frost continued. “She understands what we need to do here. That’s why they're behind her.”
Republicans have not shied away from pointing out Harris's backtracking on some of her previous progressive policy views, while also chiding her for not outlining a specific plan beyond the platform released at the Democratic National Convention.
“Most of my Republican colleagues would say that's true of every issue with the vice president—nobody is really questioning any of her policies,” said Republican Rep. John Curtis of Utah, former chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus, who is now running for Senate. “It feels to me like she's getting past and will continue to get past.”
With Biden, Prakash said many environmental activists seemed to fixate on “small details,” outlining negative aspects of his agenda rather than embracing the progress he’s made on climate.
“With Harris, it's a refreshing change,” he said. “They're looking at the big picture and ignoring the small details.”
That’s how Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for Government Affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, sees it.
“The contrast couldn’t be more stark between Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance,” she said. “The stakes couldn’t be higher.”
