House GOP investigates Energy Sec. Granholm’s EV street journey: ‘Taxpayer-funded publicity stunt’

The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation Tuesday right into a summer time electric-vehicle street journey taken by Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm meant to advertise the Biden administration’s inexperienced power agenda.

But Ms. Granholm’s four-day tour in June included a tense altercation with native legislation enforcement after a staffer used a gas-powered car to save lots of an EV charger for the secretary, boxing out a household with an EV ready for a charger on a scorching summer time day.

“This taxpayer-funded publicity stunt illustrates yet again how out of touch the Biden administration is with the consequences of policies it has unleashed on everyday Americans,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, and fellow panel member Rep. Pat Fallon, Texas Republican, wrote in a letter to Ms. Granholm.

“Your fleet of EVs could not complete the trip without the support of the fossil fuel industry, which you and the Biden administration have been intent to vilify and destroy,” they wrote.

The committee demanded info by Oct. 10 concerning the functions, prices and planning of the journey, which coated 770 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Comer and Mr. Fallon additionally requested a staff-level briefing by Oct. 3.

The Department of Energy didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The House GOP probe comes after the third-ranking Senate Republican, John Barrasso of Wyoming, made the same request for info earlier this month.

The outing, documented by an NPR reporter, was meant to advertise the tons of of billions of {dollars} from the Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the administration is placing towards inexperienced applied sciences and EVs. 

The EPA is proposing stringent tailpipe emission guidelines that may power automakers to aggressively section out gas-powered vehicles and promote largely EVs by 2030.

However, Ms. Granholm’s journey underscored the challenges of long-distance journey with EVs which can be restricted to only a few hundred miles in vary earlier than requiring a prolonged recharge. Her entourage included three EVs, along with workers and safety utilizing gas-powered autos.

At one level, NPR stated a Granholm staffer used their gas-powered car to journey forward of the group to order a quick charger for the secretary in a suburb of Augusta, Georgia, by blocking entry for others as a result of the journey was not on time. A household with a younger youngster and in want of a cost on the “sweltering” day grew so irritated that they phoned police.

 Local authorities have been unable to take motion as a result of it’s not unlawful for non-EVs to make use of such spots.

Staffers’ answer was to power different EVs to make use of slower chargers till fast-charging areas have been accessible for the household and Ms. Granholm.

“The combination of anti-energy policies and China’s consolidation of critical minerals necessary for EVs has left American domestic energy producers searching for answers, just like you and your entourage were left searching for chargers,” the House Republicans wrote to Ms. Granholm.