Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was in the hot seat Thursday as she was peppered with questions on Capitol Hill about President Biden’s green energy agenda.
Ms. Granholm faced frustrated lawmakers during testimony to the Senate Energy Committee, which accused the administration of going soft on China, flouting laws passed by Congress, contributing to soaring energy prices and piling on to the national debt.
She defended the administration’s handling of electric vehicle tax credits in Democrats’ tax-and-climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, the suspension of solar tariffs against Chinese companies violating U.S. trade laws and proposed regulations to curtail gas-powered cars.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, vowed to block all future Energy Department nominees until the federal government cleans up radioactive waste discovered last year at a Missouri elementary school from nuclear programs in the 1940s and ’50s.
“I am dead serious about this,” Mr. Hawley said. “Until we get answers for these kids and until we get that school reopened and cleaned up, I am going to hold every nominee to your department. I am going to do the same with regard to the Army Corp. [of Engineers]. They have gotten the runaround.”
Ms. Granholm suggested the onus is on the Army Corp. of Engineers — not the Energy Department.
Sen. Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the committee, doubled down on his accusations that the administration is subverting the will of Congress by loosening domestic production requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act for EVs so more vehicles qualify for up to $7,500 in tax credits.
“The liberalizing … puts more money out that doesn’t have to go out. You’re going to bust the budget,” he said. “Why in the hell are we totally committed to going further and further in debt without having to?
Mr. Manchin has become so aggravated with the law’s implementation, which he says could jeopardize U.S. energy security if too much reliance is on China for critical minerals needed in EV batteries, that he’s threatened to sue the administration.
Ms. Granholm rejected the notion of any wrongdoing and said 150 new EV battery or EV supply chain-related companies have opened in the U.S. since Mr. Biden took office.
Pressed by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the panel’s top Republican, Ms. Granholm would not commit to preventing companies with ties to China from receiving federal clean energy funds.
Last year, the department last year awarded a $200 million grant to Texas-based lithium battery company Microvast which has links to the communist nation.
“I can assure you that we are very vigilant about making sure that no taxpayer dollars go to any state-owned enterprise or Chinese-influenced company,” Ms. Granholm said. “That particular award is still under negotiation.”
The Environmental Protection Agency, which falls under the Energy Department, recently proposed the strongest-ever vehicle emissions rule with the goal of forcing automakers to phase out gas-powered cars rapidly. The agency wants EVs to account for up to two-thirds of new vehicle sales by 2032, prompting skepticism from the auto industry and outrage from Republicans.
“Why is the Biden administration trying to ban cars and trucks that the people of Wyoming need to get from point A to point B in our large state?” Mr. Barrasso said.
“The administration is not trying to ban anything,” Ms. Granholm responded. “The administration, through the EPA, is trying to reduce emissions. The emissions can be best reduced through electrification.”
The EPA’s proposed rules do not explicitly outlaw gas guzzlers. However, the stringent requirements have the same effect by severely limiting tailpipe emissions, with an average standard applied across an automaker’s fleet. That means more EVs than gas-powered cars will eventually need to be sold.
Ms. Granholm also defended the administration’s pause on Chinese solar panel tariffs, a policy that Republicans and Democrats are joining together to reimpose. Congress is on track to pass bipartisan legislation to end Mr. Biden’s suspension of solar imports from Southeast Asian countries that Chinese companies funnel their products through to skirt tariffs. Proponents say the move would punish a foreign adversary and protect domestic manufacturers.
The administration and other Democrats who defend the tariff pause say it offers U.S. solar projects a cheap supply source of panels while domestic manufacturing ramps up to meet demand.
They argue new funding in the Inflation Reduction Act will fast-track the process.
“It’s really important to recognize that we need a transition period to be able to build up that solar supply in the U.S.,” Ms. Granholm said. “To incentivize all of this and the pause on the tariffs is really an important one-two step.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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