The Biden administration has made more investments in renewable energy than any administration ever. And Vice President Harris has been at the center of that work.
A Harris presidency will reflect Kamala Harris’s sustained commitment to protecting our planet — a commitment Politico commented on last year:
Kamala Harris at climate summit: World must ‘fight’ those stalling action
The vast, global efforts to arrest rising temperatures are imperiled and must accelerate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told the world climate summit on Saturday.
“We must do more,” she implored an audience of world leaders at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai. And the headwinds are only growing, she warned.
“Continued progress will not be possible without a fight,” she told the gathering, which has drawn more than 100,000 people to this Gulf oil metropolis. “Around the world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation. Corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies.”
[She] challenged leaders to cooperate and spend more to keep the goal of containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. So far, the planet has warmed about 1.3 degrees since preindustrial times.
“Our action collectively — or worse, our inaction — will impact billions of people for decades to come,” Harris said.
The vice president, who frequently warns about climate change threats in speeches and interviews, is the highest-ranking face of the Biden White House at the Dubai negotiations.
And as CNN reported: Kamala Harris announced new $3 billion US pledge to global climate action at Dubai summit
Harris said the US would pledge another $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund — the main finance vehicle to help developing nations adapt to the climate crisis and cut fossil fuel pollution. The US has previously delivered $2 billion to the fund.
“The United States has turned ambition into action,” Harris said Saturday, touting billions of of dollars in new investments as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Harris referenced hundreds of new and expanded solar panel, wind turbine, electric vehicle and battery manufacturing plants, and new efforts to safeguard habitats and communities from climate-fueled extreme weather and rising seas.
“Today we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this crisis,” Harris said. “This is a pivotal moment.”
As CNN pointed out, Harris’s embrace of her climate change portfolio doesn’t just focus on how global warming threatens the planet. In discussing the Inflation Reduction Act, Harris has also highlighted how the climate crisis endangers poor and disadvantaged Americans:
Vice President Kamala Harris had some words of advice for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan last year after Congress passed the Biden administration’s sweeping health care, tax, and climate law.
“It’s disadvantaged and low-income communities that are on the front lines of climate impacts,” Regan recounted Harris telling him in her West Wing office as he prepared to distribute billions of dollars as a part of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.
“This is a moment in time where not only can these resources be used to stop or slow down these climate impacts, but to rebuild our communities through economic development,” Regan said Harris told him.
Though Harris’ advice was specifically talking about how to dole out money for the EPA program now known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund — a $20 billion clean energy loan program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act — aides say it’s that mentality that the vice president has conveyed throughout the administration in behind-the-scenes conversations, joining many other administration-wide officials who have helped decide how the $750 billion from the law is invested.
Looking back, we can see that Kamala Harris has cared about environmental justice her whole career — even as a district attorney in San Francisco.
SFGate: D.A. creates environmental unit
To tackle environmental crime, which disproportionately affects the city's poorest communities, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris plans to announce that her office has a new environmental justice unit.
With two staff attorneys and a dedicated investigator, the unit will address such cases as a community newspaper's alleged dumping of hundreds of gallons of printer's ink, black marketeers' abalone sales, and a bakery that operated while littered with rat and bird droppings.
"Crimes against the environment are crimes against communities, people who are often poor and disenfranchised," said Harris. "The people who live in those communities often have no other choice but to live there."
And she kept it up as Attorney General for the state of California — the world’s eighth-largest economy. For example:
Attorney General Kamala Harris Sues Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips over Environmental Violations at Gas Stations
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed a civil lawsuit against Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips for allegedly violating state law by failing to properly inspect and maintain underground tanks used to store gasoline for retail sale at more than 560 gas stations in California.
"The state's hazardous waste laws help protect our residents from contaminated groundwater," Attorney General Harris said. "This lawsuit safeguards public health by ensuring proper maintenance of the tanks that store fuel beneath many California communities."
and then — Attorney General Kamala Harris Announces Indictment of Plains All-American Pipeline on Criminal Charges Resulting from May 2015 Santa Barbara County Oil Spill
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley today announced that Plains All-American Pipeline has been indicted by a grand jury on 46 criminal charges related to the May 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara County. A Plains All-American Pipeline employee was also indicted on 3 criminal charges.
On May 19, 2015, a pipeline operated by Plains All-American Pipeline ruptured, releasing into the environment approximately 140,000 gallons of heavy crude oil onto land, beaches, and the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach. Federal, state and local governments have spent millions of dollars to clean up the spill, which resulted in substantial damage to natural habitats and wildlife over a large area.
Attorney General Harris partnered with local and state law enforcement agencies to conduct a criminal investigation and jointly prosecute the criminal case with Santa Barbara County District Attorney Dudley.
“Crimes against our environment must be met with swift action and accountability,” said Attorney General Harris. “The carelessness of Plains All-American harmed hundreds of species and marine life off Refugio Beach. This conduct is criminal and today’s charges serve as a powerful reminder of the consequences that flow from jeopardizing the well-being of our ecosystems and public health.”
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These posts are written by Goodnewsroundup (Goodie),
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