Her flip-flops are like oil and water.
Vice President Kamala Harris threatened to bring criminal charges against Big Oil companies during her 2019 White House run but is now giving the industry high marks for its booming output.
Her dramatic shift in support for domestic oil and gas production is one of several policy flip-flops that have been exposed since Harris replaced President Biden on the 2024 Democratic ticket.
“You should be really prepared to look at a serious fine or be charged with a crime,” Harris told a South Carolina town hall attendee back in November 2019, when asked whether she would investigate the role oil companies play in climate change.
The then-California Senator went on to accuse oil companies of engaging in a cover-up – likening them to cigarette manufacturers.
“And, not unlike the tobacco companies, after years — ’cause they’d done the research — they knew the harm that their product was causing,” Harris said at the town hall, according to CNN. “They were making so much money that they kept that secret — same thing with these big oil companies.”
“And they need to pay the price,” she added. “So yes is the answer.”
CNN discovered more than a dozen mentions of “prosecuting Big Oil” on material from Harris’ 2020 campaign, with the threat of climate change being the impetus.
“They had done the studies and they knew of the harm that their product was creating, but they still pushed their product ’cause they were making a ton of money. That’s the same thing with Big Oil,” Harris said at an Iowa campaign event in 2019, according to the outlet.
“They’ve known for a long time what they’ve been doing – that is destroying this God-given planet,” she said, once again comparing Big Oil to Big Tobacco.
During her first White House run, Harris also falsely touted having “sued” ExxonMobil – the largest domestic oil company in the US – as Attorney General of California.
Harris launched an investigation into the oil giant, over allegations that it misled the public and shareholders about the threat of climate change, but she never filed a lawsuit.
Harris’ tough-talk on oil played nicely with other far-left positions on energy that she trumped in 2019, including support for the Green New Deal, banning fracking and outlawing gasoline-powered cars.
All of the above are policies that she has disavowed in her latest presidential bid.
“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,” Harris said at a Philadelphia campaign event last month.
Her campaign website also promotes the “record energy production” from the oil and gas industries under the Harris-Biden administration, describing it as “ensuring America’s energy security and independence.”
However, the recent surge in US oil production has largely been attributed to better drilling technology and market forces rather than Harris-Biden administration policies.
There is no mention of prosecuting Big Oil companies on her website, but Harris does tout the “tens of millions in settlements” against the industry during her time as Claifornia AG and she vaguely vows to “ hold polluters accountable.”
The Post has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
