Jennifer Granholm: Energy Policy Ace?

Female governor with many ideas

On the surface, Jennifer Granholm’s life and career are not unlike those happening across America. The daughter of immigrants, Granholm was the first in her family to attend college and studied abroad in France before launching her career in Detroit, Michigan.

As a wife and mother of three, Granholm has proven herself to be a strong and pioneering woman in her career. Fortunately, she has received the full support of her family, especially her husband Dan Mulhern. Responding to the press about his wife's run for Governor of Michigan, Mr. Mulhern did not hesitate to praise his wife, saying: "She is truly special. Many times I have wondered why God has given her such outstanding qualities and talents!"

Portrait of Ms. Jennifer Granholm - a potential candidate for the position of US Secretary of Energy. Photo: AFP-Getty

A Harvard Law graduate, Granholm was the youngest person to serve as Wayne County's solicitor general before becoming Michigan's first female governor.

Ms. Granholm - 61 years old, had two terms as Governor in this battleground state from 2003 to 2011. During her two terms, Ms. Granholm made efforts to shift the state's auto production system towardsuse alternative energy.

As governor, Granholm has supported efforts to build advanced battery plants for electric cars in Michigan, despite concerns from experts about phasing out gasoline engines. She has also pushed for passage of a renewable energy standard that requires a portion of Michigan’s electricity to come from renewable sources.

Granholm also made a splash with an executive order requiring the development of a statewide environmental justice plan. During the 2008 financial crisis, Granholm made national headlines for pushing a bailout for the auto industry. As vice president, Biden and Granholm also worked closely on the recovery action plan in the early years of the administration.President ObamaMr. Biden later recalled this period as an effort to save American auto manufacturing workers.

Ms. Jennifer Granholm (far left) in a working session with the Barack Obama - Joe Biden ticket after being elected in Chicago, Illinois on November 7, 2008. Photo: Getty

Since leaving office, Granholm has continued to work on the energy sector, which she has a deep interest in. In 2015, she launched the “American Jobs Project,” which focused on promoting state policies that create middle-class jobs in batteries and other forms of advanced energy technology. Her strategies have had a positive impact, with about 85,000 jobs created by 40 clean energy companies. Granholm has recently lectured at the University of California, Berkeley, on topics such as state budgeting, clean energy jobs, and economic diversification.

She also served as a senior research fellow at the California Institute for Energy and Environment, the Berkeley Center for Information Technology Studies, and the Pew Charitable Trusts Clean Energy Program. She also led a 30-state university research project focused on advanced manufacturing jobs in the clean energy sector.

Fish in water

With her strong, widespread campaigns for positive energy results, Jennifer Granholm's name has been noticed for many years. Four years ago, she was considered a leading candidate for the position of Secretary of Energy ifFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clintonwon the election. Luckily, luck had not smiled on him then! Therefore, this time it was considered a “forewarned delay”.

It is not surprising that, recently, Ms. Granholm has participated in a number of Democratic political action committees; even helping Mr. Joe Biden prepare content for debates related to energy issues. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mr. Biden chose Ms. Granholm instead of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, his former advisor when he was in the Senate, who served in the Obama administration as Deputy Secretary of Energy.

Jennifer Granholm has been considered a leading candidate for the position of Energy Secretary if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wins the election. Photo: Getty

Ms. Granholm also surpassed Arun Majumdar, the first director of the agency that promotes and funds research and development of advanced energy technologies; and Ernest Moniz, who served as Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration. If confirmed, Ms. Granholm would become the second female US Secretary of Energy, after Hazel O'Leary, who served under former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Information on the selection of Ms. Granholm for the position of Secretary of Energyunder Joe Biden, is considered a relief to many concerns about a candidate with ties to large fossil fuel companies or other special interests. Ms. Granholm is expected to play an important role in supporting modern batteries, increasing clean energy efficiency and electricity generation from renewable energy and nuclear energy. It can be said that these are strategies in the ambitious chain of solutions of Mr. Joe Biden when he officially begins his term as President. Because addressing climate change is considered to become one of the pillars of the upcoming Biden administration.

President-elect Joe Biden has proposed spending $2 trillion over four years on clean energy projects; and ending carbon emissions from power plants by 2035. This plan is expected to create many jobs in the clean energy sector and projects such as building electric vehicle charging stations, updating the power grid, expanding broadband internet access... According to observers, Ms. Granholm, in her role as Secretary of Energy, will also soon have meetings with counterparts from leading oil and gas exporting countries such as Russia or Saudi Arabia to clarify the upcoming US energy policies.

Ms. Jennifer Granholm received a lot of support from environmental activists. Photo: Twitter

In addition to overseeing the nation’s energy supplies, the Department of Energy is tasked with maintaining a safe and secure nuclear deterrent and reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation. As a result, several people close to Biden’s transition said advisers struggled over whether the Department of Energy should be entrusted with a person dedicated to its core mission, ensuring the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal, or whether Biden should choose a visionary to “steer” the energy transition strategy over the long term. These are perhaps the biggest challenges that Jennifer Granholm will need to reconcile and handle if she is officially selected to head the US energy industry.