Current US President Joe Biden officially withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday for the upcoming elections this November.
Now, Vice-President Kamala Harris is seen as one of the top candidates to replace him, in a matter to be decided at the Democratic National Convention, held in late August.
Harris is seen as generally more aggressive than Biden in making large oil companies accountable for their actions against the environment.
As California attorney general, she brought about several changes in environmental and clean energy initiatives.
She has also shown continued support for the country’s energy initiatives as the attorney general and second in command. She has filed lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, advocated for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by oil and gas companies, suggested a ban on fracking in the US and defended cap-and-trade initiatives to control carbon emissions.
In 2015, Harris also backed former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce the release of GHGs from power plants that use fossil fuels.
In 2014 and 2015, attorney general Harris and a group of states intervened in cases brought before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to support the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to suggest regulations that would control the emissions of GHGs from operating power plants.
The following year, she, along with eight other states and the city of Chicago, submitted a request to intervene in favour of the EPA's New Source Performance Standards, aimed at restricting GHG emissions from oil and natural gas activities.
The EPA expected the implemented regulations to stop 300,000 tonnes of methane emissions by 2020 and 510,000 by 2025. A final rule was issued on this in December 2023.
Harris announced in 2016 that a $14m settlement was reached with BP West Coast Products, BP Products North America and Atlantic Richfield Company over accusations of violating state laws related to operating and maintaining motor vehicle fuel underground storage tanks.
Harris urged a ban on fracking in 2019. However, she claimed that Biden never endorsed the proposal.
She has also been critical of offshore oil exploration, aiming to restrict new drilling along the California coast and, during her tenure as the state’s attorney general, taking legal action to contest the federal government’s authorisation of fracking in Pacific waters.
She has also defended in court California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the state's cap-and-trade programme, which requires businesses to pay for carbon emissions.
Although Harris could approach certain energy and environmental issues with greater fervour, her agenda is expected to align closely with Biden's.
