Environmental facts from Harris’ Senate stint

As a rookie on Capitol Hill in early 2017, Kamala Harris was excited to be a member of the Senate’s top environmental committee.

Harris had referred the committee to his predecessor in his California Senate seat, Barbara Boxer, who served as the panel’s top Democrat for a decade.

Boxer said to me, ‘You will be glad to be part of this committee. Because on the most important issues, like toxics, that’s not part, the work we do,’” Harris said at a hearing in October 2017. “For that reason, I was eager to be a part of this committee.”

Harris served on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for a year before leaving to sit on the Judiciary Committee.

“Senator Harris came up to me yesterday at the Caucus luncheon and said, ‘I’m leaving your committee,'” Democrat Tom Carper of Delaware who is the top EPW said in 2018. “He said , ‘It’s not because I’m not. I’m interested in these issues, I’m very interested in these issues and I want to be a part of your big family,'” Carper said.

Harris’ year on the environmental committee provides insight into his views on a wide range of environmental topics, from nuclear waste and Superfund sites to quagga mussels. The California senator also got involved in regulatory and environmental issues from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

His views on environmental issues have come under intense scrutiny in the past as he ran for president and joined the Democratic ticket as Joe Biden’s running mate in the 2020 election, but his policy record remains is updated now that he is the Democratic presidential nominee. .

While Harris has yet to issue a detailed statement on the environment, his Senate record provides insight into where he stands on a variety of issues, including some that are unlikely to appear campaign but that will fall under his control. if he is elected president.

Superfund sites

Contaminated Superfund sites were an important issue for the former California senator.

Harris noted during the March 2017 hearing that his state has the second largest number of Superfund sites in the country after New Jersey.

He questioned EPA and Army Corps of Engineers officials as he heard about the cleanup at California sites, including Halaco Engineering’s first smelter in Oxnard.

The company “began to abandon in 1965, and there was a 1997 cease and desist order from the Army Corps, which was ignored for almost thirty years, so there was ongoing pollution in coastal wetlands,” Harris said.

“The cleanup is ongoing, but I think you’ll probably agree that it shouldn’t take that long,” he said as he pressed agency officials about their plans to speed up the Superfund investigation.

Harris also sought an update on cleanup efforts at the Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund site in Lake County, California.

“The EPA estimates that 2 million cubic yards of mine waste are polluting Clear Lake, and the EPA has not taken significant remedial action, I’m told, to control the pollution in the water.” underground,” Harris said at the time.

The EPA announced a final plan to clean up the area by December 2023.

Nuclear waste

Harris expressed concern about the disposal of nuclear waste, pointing to public concerns about the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego.

“One of my concerns about how nuclear waste is disposed of is that even if there is some left over, it presents a huge challenge and danger to the health of people in that community,” Harris said. he said during a hearing in March 2017. .

Harris pointed to the San Onofre plant, which has been “nationally inspected, beginning in 2012, for concerns about radiation leaks and potential fire problems,” he said. “I can tell you, living near that community, many families, many children [were] I am very concerned about the health consequences of what happened there.”

Southern California Edison, owner of the San Onofre station, announced in 2013 that it would close permanently after a radioactive material leak.

Also in March 2017, Harris voted against bipartisan nuclear energy legislation, which he said was motivated by his concerns about the San Onofre station.

“The promising legislation has the potential to expand research and development opportunities for advanced nuclear power by updating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s policies to keep up with the technology of this growing industry,” Harris said at the time.

“However, the genuine concern from the public regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in my home state of California still blows my mind,” he said.

“It has adversely affected the residents and residents of San Diego County. Therefore, it is my firm belief that our Committee should continue to scrutinize the rapid development of advanced energy projects. a nuclear to ensure their safety and integrity in ensuring safety to the general public.

He said he hoped to continue working with his colleagues to find a solution to dispose of “any radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants.”

Invasive species

Harris expressed concern about the invasive species of quagga mussels in written questions to the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017.

In Lake Tahoe, an area on the California-Nevada border, Harris wrote at the time, the quagga mussel “threatens the environment and the livelihoods of the surrounding communities, whose economy is heavily dependent on the fishing industry.” entertainment and hospitality.”

Harris pointed to congressional funding to control invasive species such as the quagga mussel, and pressed the FWS on how the funds have been used to improve Lake Tahoe. More broadly, he asked how FWS policies on invasive species could be applied nationally to areas such as the Great Oceans.

PFAS

Harris called PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) “an important public health issue” during a 2018 hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“These chemicals can accumulate and remain in the human body for long periods of time with potentially damaging effects,” Harris said.

“As we learn more about the toxicity of these chemicals, it is important for the government to take steps to protect public health, improve data collection and transparency, increase public awareness and education, and making decisions based on facts and hard science.”

Harris was also “deeply troubled by reports” that Trump administration officials “sought to block the release of a report on the PFAS contamination crisis because they feared the “It’s bad public relations,” he said. “Our government shouldn’t pretend PFAS contamination isn’t happening, and we need to do something about it.”

The Trump administration had sought to block the release of a government health study on PFAS, emails revealed, after a Trump administration aide warned it would cause “public relations panic.” .”

Environmental candidates

From his seat on the Senate environment committee, Harris criticized former President Donald Trump’s nominees for key agency positions.

He criticized Trump’s choice to serve as chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as deputy administrator of the EPA in 2017 when he urged his colleagues to vote against them.

The nominees, Kathleen Hartnett White for CEQ and Andrew Wheeler for EPA, “are the latest in this administration to send us candidates whose work experience is directly at odds with the mission they are supposed to fulfill,” the Harris said at the time.

Harris pointed to Wheeler’s past work as a fossil fuel agent and Hartnett White’s past comment that the fossil fuel industry helped end slavery.

Wheeler was confirmed as deputy director of the EPA and later as administrator. Hartnett White’s endorsement was later withdrawn.

Planning to change the climate

Harris was concerned in 2018 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency removed references to climate change from its strategic plan.

“The previous plan, which covered 2014 to 2018, specifically mentioned climate change and weather conditions seven times and devoted an entire section to how climate change affects those risks communities are facing,” Harris told FEMA Administrator Brock Long.

When it comes to devastating natural disasters, “We can’t plan for the future, I believe, without acknowledging, understanding and incorporating the effects of climate change,” said Harris.

Long replied, “Look, I believe the climate is changing.” But, he said, the strategic plan did not address earthquakes, school shootings or other specific risks.

“It doesn’t say anything in particular because we are the epicenter of all accidents regardless of cause or frequency,” Long told him. “I cannot solve climate change. That would be like me saying, ‘Let’s stop the earthquakes and stop the earthquakes while we’re at it.’