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. “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.
“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. 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 threatened oil companies with investigations and criminal prosecution over allegations that they hid the impacts their products had on the environment.
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.”