Biden wants ‘clean energy’ advocate Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy



Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has been designated as Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. Secretary of Energy. The selection was announced at the same time as other important domestic policy posts – Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality and a new White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. Granholm and other early Biden choices are regarded as advocates of “clean energy” policies, critical of the use of fossil fuels.

In 2015, Granholm outlined a wide-ranging and strongly liberal worldview during a speech to an Oklahoma City fundraising event for “Sally’s List”, a political organization supporting liberal/ Progressive women seeking public office.
Her advice for younger women in the room was to “Marry Well” – not necessarily in the financial arena, but in the sense of having a supportive spouse.

Further counsel offered in her local speech: “Remember, you represent everybody who’s behind you” – including “the woman sitting in a cubicle at an office who is not getting the same pay as her male colleagues.”
She stated flatly that those seeking public office “have to be willing to get some slings and arrows if you are succeed.”

Granholm placed the ethic of service at the heart of her belief system that “we serve God in serving others.” She wondered what it would be like to stand before God on judgment day with no wounds, to be asked, “Was there nothing worth fighting for?”
Gov. Granholm remembered her gubernatorial “body man” responsible for security, i.e. getting her in and out of venues safely. He made a point of taking her through work areas so she would encounter those earning modest wages. She recalled that he told her, “You cannot lead them, if you cannot see them.”
Extending an olive branch to those with contrasting preferences, the veteran politician said she believes most people in public office have good intentions.
(https://capitolbeatok.worldsecuresystems.com/reports/jennifer-granholm-delivers-call-to-practical-progressive-action-at-sallys-list-event)

In an interview with The City Sentinel, Granholm asserted anonymous independent contributions have built on the harsh rhetoric of the political blogosphere, feeding “escalation of that same toxicity.” However, Granholm asserted that those who share her views “must respond” with “Super PACs” and “527s.”

Granholm’s confirmation, if forthcoming, would assure a change in many (but not all) federal policies impacting energy. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was the first Energy Secretary in the Trump Administration, serving from March 2017 to December 2019. He was followed by Dan Brouillette, who has served for the past year and is expected to complete his term when the Republican incumbent leaves office.
According to a December 21 news story from HPC Wire (Tabor Communications – https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/12/21/biden-to-nominate-jennifer-granholm-for-energy-secretary/), “While neither Perry nor Brouillette showed the same enthusiasm for clean energy, the last few years have seen the Department of Energy expand its computing operations through substantial funding for exascale and pre-exascale supercomputing.”

Granholm was Michigan attorney general from 1999 to 2003, then chief executive from 2003 to 2011. She could not seek a third term as governor due to term limits. She was a member of former President Barack Obama’s economic advisory team, and since leave office has been on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, as a professor of law and public and policy.