The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning is considering the nomination of Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden’s choice to be secretary of energy.
The hearing that started at 9:30 a.m. is being broadcast live on the committee’s website and marks the nominee’s first public appearance before a major congressional panel.
Granholm, a Democrat, was the first woman to be elected governor of Michigan, as she served two terms from 2003 until 2011. Before being governor, Granholm was also the first female state attorney general for Michigan.
As governor, one of Granholm’s top economic goals was growing an alternative energy industry in the Rust Belt state, according to an online biography posted by the state.
Since her days in the statehouse, Granholm has been a political commentator for the Cable News Network, sat on various boards and served on the transition team for President Barack Obama. ABC News reported this month that Granholm and her husband hold between $1 million and $5 million in stock in Proterra, a California-based company that manufactures commercial electric vehicles such as buses and trucks. Granholm plans to step down from the company’s board of directors and shed vested stock options.
Born in Canada, Granholm’s parents moved to California while she was a child. Granholm would go on to earn degrees from the University of California-Berkeley and Harvard Law School.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a member of the Energy and Natural Resources panel, said he met Tuesday with both Granholm and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), Biden’s nominee to be secretary of the interior. The lawmaker suggested he wants to make sure the nominees appreciate the importance of the domestic oil and gas industry to Louisiana and the nation.
