Kamala Harris’s entrance into the presidential race has transformed the dynamics of a contest that was tilted in favor of former president Donald Trump and energized Michigan advocates who praised the Vice President’s record on environmental justice.

“There’s been a significant change in mood and enthusiasm… there’s a lot of renewed hope,” Juan Jhong-Chung, executive director for the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, told Planet Detroit.

According to a Washington Post average of national polls, Harris has nearly tied up a race where President Joe Biden had previously been trailing Trump by over a point. An ABC News/Ipsos poll found 88% of Democrats said they were enthusiastic about Harris becoming the Democratic nominee compared to 82% of Republicans for Trump.

Environmental groups were quick to endorse Harris, pointing to her work as California Attorney General where she went after oil companies like Chevron and ConocoPhillips and championed environmental justice. In Michigan, there’s widespread hope that she could build on Biden’s climate legislation by taking more aggressive action on environmental justice and denying the permit for Enbridge’s proposed tunnel for its Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.  

The selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic vice presidential candidate may also help energize progressive voters, with environmental groups praising his work setting decarbonization goals and addressing toxic PFAS pollution.

Although Harris has walked back some progressive positions that she espoused during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, like a proposed ban on fracking, she has a long history of progressive environmental action. And she speaks in terms that may appeal to those concerned about environmental justice, foregrounding human health and safety instead of traditional environmental messaging around conservation.

“I care about the environment not because I have any particular desire to hug a tree, but I have a strong desire to hug a healthy baby. This literally comes down to clean air and clean water,” Harris said during her primary campaign in 2019.

Harris seen as a leader on addressing cumulative impacts of pollution

Advocates say Harris’ track record suggests she could expand on Biden’s environmental efforts and address the cumulative impacts of pollution in low-income areas and communities of color where many industries have concentrated their operations.

“Communities are hoping to ensure that the next president keeps some of the gains that we saw during the Biden administration in terms of funding that is going to Black, brown and low-income communities from the Inflation Reduction Act,” Jhong-Chung said.

These gains have included securing federal funds for local environmental groups through the Justice 40 initiative, which directs 40% of federal climate and infrastructure investments from legislation like the IRA to disinvested and environmentally overburdened communities. In contrast, the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan for the Trump presidency aims to repeal the IRA and eliminate climate and environmental justice programs.

Jhong-Chung noted that Harris established one of the first environmental justice offices in the country in 2005, while she was District Attorney of San Francisco, creating a blueprint for similar offices at The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and over a dozen states.

She also co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution, which tied climate action to improvements to the social safety net. Republicans and moderate Democrats defeated the Green New Deal in the U.S. Senate, but backers say it has gone on to inform legislation like the IRA and many of its proposals are broadly popular, according to polling from the left-leaning polling firm Data for Progress. 

Jhong-Chung hopes that Harris could put her support behind a national cumulative impact bill, a major goal for activists who say the collective impact from pollution in communities is underrecognized because officials largely regulate air and water permits on a facility-by-facility basis.

Harris and Cory Booker introduced a cumulative impact bill in the Senate in 2019 that would have established requirements for federal agencies to address environmental justice and mandated consideration of cumulative impacts and persistent violations in state and federal permitting under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

Harris could use permitting powers to shut down Michigan’s Line 5

Several of those who spoke with Planet Detroit pointed to Harris’ history as prosecutor and expressed optimism that she might continue to go after fossil fuel companies and revoke permits for projects that could jeopardize climate goals and impact local communities.

Jhong-Chung said that, based on her record, Harris may be more willing to deny a permit for the Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac than Biden.

A spill from the pipeline could result in $5.6 billion dollars in direct economic damage to tourism, commercial fishing, sewer systems and real estate, according to a Michigan State University study. More broadly, it would imperil the Great Lakes, which contain roughly 20% percent of the world’s fresh surface water.

In 2022, Canada invoked a 1977 treaty governing the flow of hydrocarbons between the U.S and Canada to try and keep oil and natural gas liquids flowing through the pipeline, which Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had ordered to shut down in 2020. Sean McBrearty, Michigan director for the nonprofit Clean Water Action, said the Canadian government’s position on the treaty is that the full permission of both governments is needed to shut down cross-border pipelines.

“If that understanding of the treaty becomes precedent, it’s going to be nearly impossible to shut down bad and old oil and gas infrastructure on either side of the border, even when there’s clear danger,” McBrearty said.

Line 5 is also a significant environmental justice issue for Native American tribes in Northern Michigan. Tribal Nations say the continuing operation of the pipeline threatens the Anishinaabe people’s treaty-protected rights, resources and the way of life. More than 60 Tribal Nations in the U.S. and Canada filed a brief supporting Michigan’s effort to hold Enbridge accountable for violating the shut down order and operating without a lease.

Andrea Pierce, founder of the Anishinaabek Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party, said that indicating a willingness to shut down Line 5 could be important for winning the Native vote in Michigan. 

But she said that’s not the only contentious issue Michigan voters are weighing, noting Harris’ role in the Biden administration’s support of Israel.

“She’s already in trouble with a lot of the young people because of Gaza and what’s happening there,” Pierce said, referring to Israel’s offensive in the occupied territory that has killed an estimated 40,000 Palestinians.

U.S. support for Israel may be a key issue in Michigan, where 100,000 residents, many from metro Detroit’s large Arab American community, voted ‘uncommitted’ in the Democratic primary, following a campaign that encouraged voters to withhold support for Biden to protest his foreign policy.

“The thing to remember about the climate movement is that it is very intersectional,” said Denise Keele, director of the Michigan Climate Action Network. She said young environmental voters were also concerned about economic justice issues and conflicts like the one in Gaza.  

Harris has appeared to depart from some of Biden’s pro-Israel public messaging and encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire. However, Palestinian rights advocates have called for a shift away from unconditional support for Israel to achieve a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, vice presidential nominee Walz projected a sympathetic view of the ‘uncommitted’ movement in March, saying, “They are asking to be heard and that’s what they should be doing…Their message is clear: they think this is an intolerable situation and that we can do more.”

McBrearty praised Harris’ selection of Walz as a running mate, saying he’s a consensus-builder who passed consequential state climate legislation with a slim Democratic majority and managed to enact a ban on most uses of PFAS in the state, even though the PFAS manufacturer 3M is based in Minnesota.

“She had a few really good options, and she chose probably the best one,” he said.

Correction: This piece was updated to clarify that a federal permit was needed for Enbridge’s proposed tunnel for its Line 5 pipeline. A previous version incorrectly stated the pipeline carried liquified natural gas. It transports natural gas liquids.