WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden's nominee for energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, is expected to face questions on the administration's push to compete with China on electric vehicles at her Senate confirmation hearing later on Wednesday.
While governor of auto-manufacturing Michigan from 2003-11, Granholm led a charge to secure $1.35 billion in federal funding for companies to produce electric vehicles and batteries in the state.
Granholm, 61, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate in days after the hearing, wants to steer the department to help the United States compete with China on EVs and green technologies like advanced batteries and solar and wind power.
"We can buy electric car batteries from Asia or we can make them in America," Granholm told the senators in opening remarks. "We can install wind turbines from Denmark or we can make them in America," she said.
Clean energy technologies could represent a $23 trillion global market by 2030, Granholm said, apparently citing a recent report by the International Finance Corporation.
She would be the second female U.S. energy secretary after Hazel O'Leary served in the 1990s. Granholm has done few media appearances since being nominated by Biden, but said on Twitter this month she was doing a "deep dive" into the department and was awed by the work of its lab scientists.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, asked Granholm about opportunities for mining rare earth and other minerals that are used in advanced batteries, and wind and solar power. Granholm said "we can mine in a responsible way" and that she supports the industry for the jobs and energy security it offers.
Granholm could also face questions about the department's Loan Programs Office, or LPO, founded with stimulus funding in 2009 during the Obama administration. The office has loaned money and been paid back by successful businesses including Tesla Inc., but has been slammed by some Republicans for support of Solyndra, a failed solar company.
