{"id":2499,"date":"2020-12-16T21:25:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T21:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=140132"},"modified":"2020-12-16T21:25:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T21:25:47","slug":"whos-jennifer-granholm-bidens-pick-for-energy-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/16\/whos-jennifer-granholm-bidens-pick-for-energy-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s Jennifer Granholm, Biden\u2019s pick for energy secretary?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the Demoratic primaries and the run-up to the presidential election, one of Joe Biden\u2019s most consistent climate pitches was his plan to own the electric vehicle market and build 500,000 charging stations<\/a> across the country. Now, with President-elect Biden\u2019s expected pick of former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm<\/a> to lead the Department of Energy, he\u2019s making a down payment on that goal.<\/p>\n

The Energy Department is a key funder of battery technology research and will likely play an important role helping the country drop gas-powered cars for electric ones under the Biden administration. The former governor of Michigan knows the auto industry intimately and is a longtime champion<\/a> of making the United States a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing. During her eight years in office, she worked with the Obama administration on the auto industry\u2019s 2009 bailout and expanded incentives<\/a> for carmakers to develop and manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. Those measures helped to push U.S. automakers like General Motors and Ford to get into the electric vehicle market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGranholm\u2019s deep knowledge of the auto industry will be just what America needs as we begin building these clean trucks, buses and cars of the future,\u201d said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, in a statement.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s climate-focused cabinet has come into focus this week with a flurry of new appointments. On Tuesday, he tapped Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana<\/a> to run the Department of Transportation and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy to be his domestic \u201cClimate Czar<\/a>,\u201d running counterpoint to John Kerry, who will oversee climate policy abroad<\/a>. He has yet to name his pick for EPA administrator or Interior Department, though Representative Debra Haaland from New Mexico, is a likely contender for the latter role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Granholm\u2019s green bonafides go beyond cars. As governor, she also backed tax credits and incentives for wind and solar, and signed legislation requiring Michigan to get 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources. (Reflecting on that bill years later<\/a>, Granholm reportedly said she had hoped for a more ambitious goal, but that it was the best she could do without more support from the state legislature.)<\/p>\n

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