Joe Biden’s new Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, may have been born in Vancouver, but she may prove to be no friend of Canada, at least not when it comes to Canada’s biggest energy export: oil.
According to Politico, president-elect Joe Biden has tapped Granholm to head the U.S. Department of Energy – a choice that will no doubt be cheered by both the clean energy and the auto manufacturing sectors. But the American and Canadian oil industry may not be so keen to have Granholm at the helm in the U.S. Department of Energy.
The former governor of Michigan has been a champion of that state’s auto industry, as well as clean energy manufacturing, but has spoken against both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, according to Greenpeace.
“Jennifer Granholm has forcefully spoken out against both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines and advocated for shifting investment from oil and gas to renewable energy solutions,” Greenpeace USA senior climate campaigner Lisa Ramsden said in a news release “That’s the kind of leadership the Department of Energy has been sorely missing”
Joe Biden himself has vowed to revoke a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would increase pipeline access for Alberta oil destined for American refineries.
Granholm was born in Vancouver, but moved with her parents to California when she was four. She served two terms of governor of Michigan, and is credited for attracting clean-tech manufacturing to Michigan.
She currently teaches public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkley, and is a senior fellow at California Institute for Energy and Environment.
