With national focus shifting to Vice President Kamala Harris following President Joe Biden’s announced exit from the presidential race, co-chair of Bracewell’s Policy Resolution Group Scott Segal told S&P Global there is distance between Harris’ prior energy and climate positions in 2020 and where the Biden administration has landed in its governance today.
“There’s no daylight between her positioning on energy and environmental issues after the point at which she joined the Biden-Harris team in 2020,” said Segal.
Harris during her 2019-2020 primary campaign supported passage of the Green New Deal and during a 2019 CNN forum on climate change said she would support a ban on hydraulic fracturing.
“[B]ut these are things that she never said again, and … I would not expect those views to make another appearance,” Segal added. “Remember, her job is to get elected by carrying more centrist, Democratic states that are more favorably disposed toward natural gas.”
Segal also highlighted Harris’ record as attorney general in California on enforcement and commitment on environmental justice as areas where a president may have leeway to act without backing from Congress.
“She had a long track record against various energy companies in California and also secured the $86 million settlement against Volkswagen on the diesel emissions issue,” he noted.
