Jennifer Granholm to be nominated for Energy Secretary

President-elect Joe Biden is set to pick former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to head the Energy Department, the agency that would play a key role in developing the technologies needed to fulfil his pledge to move the country off fossil fuels, Washington Post reported.  

Granholm, 61, currently an adjunct professor of law at UC Berkeley, has always championed for zero-emission vehicles and argued that the US risks being left behind if it doesn’t develop alternative energy technologies.

Her pick is a clear indication that Biden wants the department to play an important role in combatting climate change.

Granholm, who served two terms as Michigan’s governor, is experienced in dealing with the auto industry, which could potentially be advantageous as the new president seeks to speed the rollout of electric vehicles and the network of charging stations needed to power them.

It would be in sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s first Energy secretary nominee, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who used the position to promote natural gas exports and push regulators to prop up coal as a power source.

Should she make it through the chamber, Granholm would oversee U.S. scientific research and the country’s nuclear arsenal, and could help incentivize the development of low-carbon energy sources through the distribution of federal loans.

“She will be phenomenal for DOE,” said Dan Kammen, an energy professor who has worked with Granholm at the University of California-Berkeley, Politico reported. “She understands the technology, she understands deployment and she knows how to run a big agency.”

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Meanwhile, Arun Majumdar, a materials scientist and engineer who led a new research agency within the Energy Department under the Obama administration, is reportedly under consideration as deputy secretary.

Majumdar, who has been working for the Biden transition team and was even considered a candidate himself for the top post, is an enthusiastic advocate for modernizing the nation’s electricity grid.

Both Granholm and Majumdar are immigrants — she from Canada, he from India. They come with a background and expertise in promoting and developing alternate technologies.