US vice president Kamala Harris this week committed to implementing President Joe Biden's renewable energy industrial policy and maintaining his support for US oil and natural gas producers if she is elected president in November.
The Democratic presidential candidate's economic policy document, dubbed "A new way forward for the middle class", also vows to continue efforts to streamline federal permitting rules for energy infrastructure — addressing a common cause of complaint for both fossil fuel producers and developers of renewable energy projects.
"Thanks to the progress we've made under the Biden-Harris administration, America is more energy secure and independent than ever before, with record energy production", Harris' campaign document said. "The vice president remains committed to supporting US energy production growth so that we never again have to rely on foreign oil."
Harris highlighted the tie-in between energy investment and economic growth in a 23 September speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her administration would "expand our lead in clean energy innovation and manufacturing so the next generation of breakthroughs — from advanced batteries to geothermal to advanced nuclear — are not just invented, but built here in America by American workers".
Harris' embrace of the Biden climate and energy initiatives comes as little surprise given that she has been serving as vice president in his administration.
But her campaign is keen to highlight her commitment to balancing energy transition and security, both to draw contrast with the Republican candidate, former president Donald Trump, and to assuage critics who have zeroed in on her remarks in the previous election cycle in 2019 that called for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Trump has vowed to boost US oil production "four-five times" by issuing an emergency declaration to facilitate "rapid approvals for new drilling, pipelines, refineries and power plants".
Climate activists in 2020 urged Biden to issue a "climate emergency" declaration to advance energy transition and decarbonization goals. But the Biden administration instead relied on Congress to pass the Inflation Reduction Act climate funding legislation, which has already prompted an estimated $282bn in investments in renewable energy and manufacturing of electric vehicle (EV) and batteries.
Trump has vowed to "terminate the Green New Deal" and roll back climate-related regulations, and Republicans in Congress would back that effort, US House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said.
House Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, but repealing the landmark law could be politically difficult, with 18 House Republicans last month urging Johnson against a "full repeal" they said would undermine economic growth in their districts.
Republican critics of the Biden-Harris focus on boosting the share of EVs in personal and commercial fleets point to China's domination of EV battery and critical mineral processing industries.
The Harris campaign hit back at that criticism, noting that renewable energy investments will ensure that "America, not China, leads in the critical industries of the future". A Harris administration would establish a strategic reserve of critical minerals, her campaign said.
Faster permitting
Harris pledged to focus "cutting red tape so that clean energy projects are completed quickly" and "unlock upgrades, efficiencies, and faster construction of a lower-cost and more resilient electrical grid to speed up deployment of cutting-edge technologies".
A bipartisan consensus in Congress is looking to enact a wide-ranging energy permitting bill during its lame duck session after the November elections, which would increase federal oil and gas leasing, end a de facto "pause" on licensing new LNG export facilities, make it easier to build electric transmission, and fast-track permitting litigation.
Should that effort fail, recreating a bipartisan approach that satisfied oil and gas companies, renewable developers and utilities would prove more difficult regardless of the presidential election outcome.
The oil and gas industry's biggest Democratic supporter, West Virginia's Joe Manchin, is leaving the Senate next year. His retirement and tough re-election campaigns facing four other Democratic senators are likely to hand control of the Senate to Republicans, according to latest polling from the Cook Political Report.
Republicans are vying to keep control of the House in addition to winning the White House and the Senate. Polls indicate that the presidential race and the House majority are too close to accurately forecast.
