Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Energy, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, gave millions in taxpayer funds to alternative energy companies throughout her two terms, all of which eventually went bankrupt, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Granholm, who served as governor from 2003 to 2011, provided a $9.1 million refundable tax credit to a renewable energy company run by a convicted embezzler named Richard Short.
She even appeared on stage with him in 2010 to offer him assistance from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. Short was later found to be in violation of his parole and was sent back to prison.
Under her direction, Granholm’s administration in 2009 also gave $10 million to A 123 Systems, an electric car battery manufacturer, to help Michigan become “the alternative energy capital of North America.” The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Azure Dynamics, another electric vehicle manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after receiving taxpayer funded assistance from Granholm.
In total, Granholm used the Michigan Economic Growth Authority to sponsor 434 energy projects. Only 2.3% of those projects were successful, according to the American Energy Alliance.
If confirmed, Granholm would play a key role in shaping Biden’s climate agenda and helping him pursue clean energy alternatives.
Biden said this week that he wants to replace the more than 550,000 vehicles in the federal government’s fleet with electric, American-made vehicles. Granholm would take on this responsibility as Energy Secretary.
“If her track record in Michigan was an audition for the Department of Energy she certainly failed,” American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“She had a history of not doing due diligence, throwing money to try to force technological changes that weren’t ready for the marketplace,” Pyle said.
“She basically saddled Michigan taxpayers with millions of dollars in a sort of transfer to startups and most of them were failures. Why would you put someone in charge of the pursestrings at the Department of Energy who has a track record like that?”
