Transcripts For CSPAN3 Energy 20240704

Our headline event with Jennifer Granholm. We are happy to accept your questions and i will ask as many as time permits. Said to semitic westin online, email headliners atpress. Org and put energy in the subject line. For our cspan and public radio audiences, be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public. Any applause you hear is not necessarily from the working press. Three years ago this week, Jennifer Granholm was sworn in as the 16th secretary of energy to lead the Biden Administrations efforts to move the United States toward a Clean Energy Transition that can achieve net zero Carbon Emissions by 2050. While there has been successes, there have been challenges. Secretary granholm helped the Administration Push policies to develop a new generation of technologies for hydrogen, batteries, fusion energy, Energy Storage and grid reliability. Yet she has faced difficulties. Theres been controversy over how the department of energy will handle critical mineral competition with china. A former twoterm michigan governor and a longsuffering Detroit Lions fan, i feel you on that, secretary granholm has been on the front lines on the transition to electric vehicles, major issue for the Auto Industry and its workforce. Dev transition has shown promise with sales including a fourfold increasing and improving u. S. Manufacturing sector but it still faces consumer criticism because of limits to the charging infrastructure. Increased vehicle because an ever challenging supply for auto companies. We are eager to hear more about the progress of the clean energy and manufacturing revolution as a part of the Energy Departments mission to promote a Clean Energy Future. Please join me in a warm National Press club welcome for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. [applause] secy granholm madam president , thank you so much for that gracious and accurate introduction in terms of the challenges we are facing. Im delighted to be here at the National Press club. Let me cut to the chase and start with a number two. 14. 8 million jobs since january, 2021, the greatest number of jobs ever created under any president in american history, under any term of any president in american history. 353,000 jobs just last month. The longest continuous stretch of unemployment under 4 in 50 years. More people working than at any point in american history, the strongest economic recovery of all major advanced economies. Why is this happening . It is not coincidence. It is not luck. It is the result of a focused, strategic plan. The Biden Administration is using a 21st century industrial strategy to bring manufacturing back to america after years of off shoring to lift bruised communities from their knees and bring future facing the jobs to workers. Its a strategy to invest in america, all of america. Our industrial strategy for clean Energy Starts with a recognition of true facts. First, clean energy represents a 23 trillion Global Economic opportunity. Essentially, a new Industrial Revolution as these countries strive to address climate change. Second, our past economic policies have failed us in many cases, tragically. From before the start of this century, socalled free trade, trickledown economics have ushered in losses of millions of jobs and tens of thousands of factories across the nation. Policies of administrations past effectively encouraged manufacturers to go abroad, factories that had anchored entire communities from their moorings had been sucked overseas. Its not an abstraction. I know this from the depths of my soul. Loss of manufacturing jobs was the most sickening, despairing part of my eight years as governor of michigan. A little town called greenville, michigan, my first year in office a refrigerator factory owned by electrolux was threatening to go to mexico. In greenville, it was essentially a one company town, 8000 people lived there in almost 3000 people work at the factory. They proudly called themselves the refrigerator capital of north america. I remember the meeting where we made our plea to the electrolux executives. We put every incentive we had on the table, state, local, labor. We just wanted to keep the factory there. The company at the meeting, they took our list of incentives and went outside the room for 17 minutes. They came back in and they said, this is the most generous and committee has been to try to keep jobs. But there is nothing you can do to compensate for the fact that we can pay one dollar 57 per hour in mexico. So they left. And it was like a nuclear bomb went off in little greenville. When the last refrigerator came off the assembly line, the workers had a gathering that they called the last supper. It was atklackels orchard pavilion. I went in it was a community week, community grieving not just the loss of jobs but the loss of their identity. One fathers words seared my soul. He said,guv, ive worked at that factory for 30 years. I went from high school to factory. My father worked at that factory , my grandfather worked at that factory, all i know is how to make refrigerators. So, tell me, who is ever going to hire me . Whos ever going to hire me . That question was asked by everybody at the orchard pavilion that day. Its been asked by workers in every one of the 60,000 factories lost during the first part of this century. That greenville story happened over and over again in michigan and across the industrial midwest. Scores of Companies Moving offshore, michigans proud Industrial Base in manufacturing meant we were hit harder than any state in the country. No matter how many incentives a state offers, no state has the resources to compete with the industrial policies of china, the low wages in mexico. Is it any wonder that i and other michigan politicians used to campaign on nafta and cafta have given us the shafta . With governors with no federal partner . Honestly, it was like bringing a knife to a gunfight. But we sure tried. We incentivized a solar factory to come to greenville. United solar, a great fanfare and it would employ electrolux workers, there were three factory buildings built on the site where the electrolux factory previously stood. Workers were hired. And then, because of cheap solar panels from china flooding the market, united solar went bankrupt in 2012. The remnants were sold to a Chinese Company and the plants shut down. Greenville, it again. Jack welch the iconic ceo of General Electric famously said that he wished he could put his factories on a barge and float them to wherever costs were lowest. Manufacturing is the backbone of a nations economy. But we just watched as other nations stepped on our week spine and poached ourip and our jobs and ceos, global ceos and economic elites justify the losses by invoking socalled free trade and trickledown economics and they glossed over the fact that other countries were not abiding by the same rules. When i was done being governor, i visited china to see how china was crafting its industrial strategy for the energy sector. At one event where mayors of chinese towns were showcasing their technologies and strategies, one mayor leans over to me and he says, so, when do you think the United States is going to get National Energy policy . I lamented that congress in gridlock and the mayor grinned at me and said, take your time. Take your time. Because of course they saw our passive itty is there opportunity. So, enter joe biden. Joe from scranton, pa, amtrak joe. He saw what was happening across the country. And he tasked his cabinet with developing a policy to bring jobs and businesses back home to america. An industrial strategy for the 21st century based in part upon clean energy, a future of manufacturing revival, thriving businesses, good jobs for kids, Energy Independence and products made in america. And you know what . The president s strategy is working, folks. Did i mention 350,000 jobs last month . We now have the most significant clean energy and Climate Strategy in the nations history , arguably in the world. The strategy for Building Clean Energy come a Clean Energy Future in the United States rests on four legs. First, making the United States the irresistible nation for investing in clean energy. Second, and that those investments provide desk ensuring that those investments provide Energy Benefits and the communities left behind. Third, strengthening americas workforce so that our workers have the skills they need to compete in this Global Clean Energy market. Fourth, with cutting edger d supporting industry so each future generation of Clean Energy Technology will be more innovative than the last. To carry out this industrial strategy, ive been have been proud that we have extensively reorganize the department of energy. Doe is now investing over 100 billion into Clean Energy Demonstration and deployment through grants and loans and rebates and other public tools. We actually have 60 new programs under the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act. We set of new offices to focus on demonstration, clean Energy Supply chains, the electricity grid, community engagement. We have hired 780 talented experts. We recruited heavily from the private sector to serve this expanded mission. Our motto is deploy, deploy, deploy. This restructured organization has, as of january, launched 100 of these new programs. The first pillar of this bidenharris strategy come industrial strategy is making america irresistible for investment in growth. Answer the call. Irresistible for investment growth. The irresistible nation. We are providing lots of carrots to incentivize businesses to invest in america again. As we say at doe, the Clean Energy Revolution is government enabled but its private sector led. We got busy with our National Laboratories and input from industry. Weve developed commercial liftoff reports. Those commercial liftoff reports are outlining the roadmaps for key technologies like nextgeneration nuclear, virtual our plants, carbon management, longduration Energy Storage come industrial decarbonization, nitrogen. Then we identified the gaps in the supply chains that we need to fill. In the industries where there is a supply demand mismatch that might make investors nervous, we are providing the demand signal with tools like the defense production act and pay for difference contracts and federal procurement. If you take Clean Hydrogen for example, we have developed a Technology Liftoff pathway to commercialize Clean Hydrogen. Then we developed a Clean Hydrogen earth shot, and energy earth shot with audacious goals to bring down the cost to one dollar per one kilogram within one decade. Then we announced seven hubs, Hydrogen Hubs closed coasttocoast to like producers and consumers and infrastructure. We are building entire ecosystems, supply chains, workforce training, supply and demand for hydrogen, financing. Our upfront public investments are going to crowd in billions of dollars of private sector dollars, laying the foundation for this thriving commodity market. It will help to create tens of thousands of good paying jobs. Thats just one example of the industrial strategy, in one area. We are developing and have developed analogous strategies with harrys, electric vehicles with batteries, electric vehicles, karma dioxide removal and so much more. As we do this, we are open id about it. We know we have gaps in our supply chains, china for example has adopted 14 fiveyear plans that are focused on dominating supply chains and Manufacturing Products that we used to excel in. China already controls so much like Critical Minerals and processing for batteries. And they are producing huge volumes of lowcost solar and evs and they hope to bigfoot the global market. As we saw with the Solar Company in greenville, they been successful. But, we are fighting back. We are being deliberate about building up these supply chains both inside the u. S. And with our allies. We understand that energy is a National Security imperative. We cannot depend upon countries that have orchestrated monopolies on key technologies whose values we dont share. Weve seen how europes dependence on russia for natural gas allowed putin to weaponize energy and we are not going to do that. Our allies, by the way, they dont want to be captive to unfriendly nations either. We have to create markets with trusted allies and we are building at home. So, its also the president s approach and its still early but since President Biden took office, private companies have announced 650 billion in investments and semi conductors in Clean Energy Technologies and other 21stcentury industries. In the energy space alone, 400 billion. I know thats just dollars and it sounds its hard to grapple with that kind of amount. What it means is that more than 500 new or expanding manufacturing facilities in clean energy alone. Thats less than three years from the passage of the president s agenda. Think about it, 500 communities that are seeing future facing industries, hiring their people. We are bringing manufacturing home. Instead of importing battery components from nj, china, nan jane, we will build anodes in washington and castles in tennessee, separator material in indiana, electrolytes in texas. Its closed down a factory in michigan. We are building electric vehicles in a formerly shuttered plant in lordstown, ohio. We are building ev batteries. Instead of importing solar panels from china, we will manufacture our own in georgia and alabama and ohio. Investments in factories and jobs are growing in every pocket of america from alaska to atlanta, from the west coast to West Virginia. I visited West Virginia a few months ago and it was once a thriving steel town. The steel mill used to employ 12,000 people until other nations dumped cheap steel and force the mill into bankruptcy and the plant closed down. The sidewalks in weirdon rolled up and the downtown shops closed up and many people moved away. Then last year, a Company Called forum energy decided to start their business in weirtdon incentivize by the federal tax credits in large part. Form makes utility scale iron air batteries and they located the plant on the site of the old steel mill. At a recent job fair, hundreds of people were lined up. The living symbol that they are bringing to that town. At the ribboncutting, one of the city council members, bearded guy with white hair told me this familiar story. He said i worked at that steel mill. My father worked at that steel mill. I thought my kids would work here, too but they moved away when the plant closed. Heres where the story diverges from greenville. Now, we have new life. Like the Phoenix Rising from the ashes ,weirto is risingn. But not so fast. Cleveland cliffs phil Company Bought a unit of the bankruptweirton steel. Last week, as i thought about these remarks, workers at the template facility were notified that they were going to be laid off as well in the factories going to be idle largely because of more cheap steel flooding the market from competitor nation. This transition is not a straight line. This is a global battle, but we are on offense. In our toolshed, trade policy is the back hope vacco b ackhoe is the tool we use and we will not relent. If we fully deploy our tax credits and grants and loans to boost Domestic Production of these technologies, we are also working handinhand with our colleagues at the u. S. Trade representatives office, the treasury and commerce, the state and the white house. Let me be clear, trade and International Finance and National Security are a foundational part of a holistic, coherent, sustainable industrial strategy. More will come on that. Done right, and it will be done right, it will be a win for u. S. Companies and workers in a win for our allies and win for her partners, win for diversifying this Global Supply chain and a win for urgently reducing Global Carbon pollution. The thing about empowering american businesses to invest is that Success Builds upon success and growth builds upon growth. Of course, injustice can build upon injustice. T the secondenet of our industrial strategy for clean energy is to put the people and the committees who have historically been last at the forefront of this new clean energy economy. In the 20th century, many of you know this, as Americas Industrial might grew, we made choices that harmed poor americans, it harms tribal nations, communities of color. We builtcoal plants and Oil Refineries in the heart of poor neighborhoods, often the very communities that were powering our countries prosperity. It was those families that bore the brunt of the resulting pollution. I recently visited louisianas river parishes on the mississippi river. Its an area known as cancer l. A. Cancer alley. Plants sprouted up over the backs of poor citizens forcing folks to breathe in cancercausing particulates. Everyone there is related to somebody who died of cancer. Mr. Robert taylor was a gentle 83yearold resident. He showed me his familys graveyard. A refinery is literally sprouted up and surrounded unconfined the Small Cemetery which is so hymned and now that the graves are stacked neatly on top of one another. Loved ones on top of loved ones. Mr. Taylor is trying to decide whether his grave will be stacked up on top of his fathers were his grandfathers. For his grandfathers. The president is investing in america on this history of generate of energy injustice. President biden has the most ambitious climate and clean Energy Environmental justice agenda ever taken from day one. He has directed us to leave no one behind in this Energy Transition from communities like the river parishes to thecoal and steel and power plant communities that drove the first Industrial Revolution and who will be central to the next one. It is the president s core belief that every person deserves to breathe clean air, drink clean water, to live in a healthy community. The critical part of that work is the justice for the initiative which says 40 of the overall benefits of these investments will flow to disadvantaged immunities. Our laws, they offer extra incentives to locate Clean Energy Projects in disadvantaged communities. If there is a Solar Developer who wants to build a Community Solar project, they get five times the base credit amount if they meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. And they get an additional 10 tax credit for locating it in an energy community. If they meet domestic content standards, they can get another 10 , all stackable. If they do all of those things, that tax credit is worth 50 of the cost of their investment. A 50 tax credit to build promising new projects if they do it in a way that helps those that have been left behind. That is irresistible. Further, companies that want doe loans those were tax incentive so if you want loans or grants in your competition to achieve those from d. O. B. , from the bipartisan infrastructure law, they have to explain how they will ensure that the project directly benefits the communities they will be based in through a Community Benefits plan. Theyve got to demonstrate how they will create quality jobs and opportunities for local workers and generate equitable benefits for residents including reducing energy costs and reducing exposure to pollution. We score the competitive applications based upon the strength of these plans. We are Holding Companies accountable to them. The president s strategy prioritizes this not just because it is the right thing to do but because its the only way to make sure this Clean Energy Transition will succeed. When people are part of deciding their future, the path for citing and permitting and growing these projects will result in fewer lawsuits and less friction and more certainty and better results. And, here again, its working. Incentivizing investment in these committees, recent studies have shown that because of this prong of the industrial strategy , challenged communities under the Biden Administration are receiving 2x the investments relative to their population compared to other regions. Its working. Maybe youve heard that the president is a prolabor guy. There is nothing more important to him and creating a middleclass through investing in skilled workers. He is grateful to the Labor Movement for creating the middle class in america. You may have heard that the president s strategy is to build an economy from the bottom up in the middle out and labor is an important part of that. Thats why the third part of this holistic strategy is focusing on the workforce that will build pioneering Clean Energy Technologies and ensuring workers make fair wages so they can raise a family. Workers are not incidental to President Bidens investing in america agenda. They are central to it. For the Clean Energy Transition to endure, we have to plan to have the right mix of skills available today and in five years and 10 years and 20 years. Its why our strategy prioritizes above average pay and benefits. We see prevailing wages as a floor, not a ceiling. We also prioritize apprenticeships, pathways to unionization to create jobs that people will want to grow in where communities can have a shot at keeping their young people at home where the sidewalks dont roll up. In visiting towns with industrial losses which i have seen a lot of, you might guess what our peoples deepest fears are. There deepest fear is that their kids are going to be forced to move away to find a job and that the committee will be hollowed out and it will hollow out their family. In schenectady, new york, the administrations incentives are supporting a manufacturing line for winter components in one handler described how proud he was after years of off shoring and layoffs to have his son join him on the manufacturing line. His son said the Clean Energy Investments in his community have created opportunities for young people like me that we never thought would come our way. Erics father said, it gives me hope. Hope. I know, hope is not a strategy. So, the fourth tenet, we cant just think about the present but we have to plan for the future. We are americans as the president would say. We are great at this which is why we landed first on the moon, we invented the iphone, we believe we leave the world in pathbreaking r d through our 70 National Laboratories. Thanks to the president s strategy, we are makingr d more purposeful by infusing it with the insight of businesses that are bringing Clean Energy Technologies to market. The Departments Energy birth shots challenge our scientists and industry to lower the cost by 8090 of pivotal technologies like floating offshore wind platforms, enhanced geothermal, longduration batteries that store renewable energy. Importantly, in addition, we are doing so much in r d but we are working to end the practice of invented here make it there. If you are using taxpayer money to develop a technology, you will be expected to manufacture it right here in america. Our strategy looks with clear eyes into the future. But it is rooted in the proudest moments of our past. 80 years ago, as world war ii tour europe apart, her country used the might of american industry to tackle the struggle between democracy and fascism. Long after the allies won the war, the investments we made in our industries and their workers helped to power a 20th century manufacturing juggernaut. Along the way, we lost our way. We lost our mojo. We lost the manufacturing that was our economys spine. Today, we are changing that and we are doing what america has always done which is capitalizing on this opportunity to lead the world. The u. S. Is back, baby. We are the envy of the world. I just came back from an International Gathering of Energy Ministers and every country there is tracking what we are doing. Every minister i spoke to wanted to emulate our aggressiveness in their own way. Our success at home is giving a jolt to Clean Energy Investment around the world. Policy works. Puna . Who knew . So dont estimate joe biden, the men with the plan and thanks to that plan, america has begun one of the most significant economic transformations we will see in our lifetimes, the shift toward a future powered by clean energy with advanced products, stamped made in america, built and installed by American Workers in proud american communities. A transformation in which innovation is inevitable, investment in america is irresistible and no american feels invisible. This is our america. Its our time to soar. God, i love this country, thanks. [applause] after that delivery come i understand why they made you the secretary of energy. One of the things you touched on their was the relationship between the federal government and states, manufacturing and what biden is doing. I wanted to start with a question from a college with a from a colleague at cnbc which knows there was promise around clean energy when biden was elected and the Inflation Reduction Act was passed. There has been some major stalling in these projects. The primary reason is higher rates but there is a ton of redtape around permitting, for infrastructure. What can the department of energy do to speed up that process and help some of these Companies Get there . Secy granholm we have to do Everything Everywhere all at once and that includes addressing a lot of the underbrush that creates the friction to get dez to prevent these project from going. On permitting, we support permitting reform but we are not waiting for congress to act. We are doing what we can inside on our federal lands. We have a whole process now. The bottom line is, it has a twoyear shot clock and getting all permits done for clean energy on federal lands and for transmission in particular because that is super important. We are actually looking at ways that advanced technology can help on permitting. For example, could ai be a solution to accelerate the permitting process because of all the data we have on land, etc. We might be able we are looking at how we can take advantage of that. There is no doubt we need to continue to work on accelerating permitting both in the congressional line of fire but also inside the administration. There is a whole workgroup doing that. Thats one reason why you see a lot of these transmission lines actually come to fruition now because weve got a whole workgroup that is working on pulling down the barriers to making sure we can cut the ribbon. There are many folks in this room joining us who have many questions about lng and the pause uncertain exports of it. Obviously, the announcement set off a firestorm both in the u. S. And around the world. That includes from trading partners that have signed contracts or are looking to do business with the u. S. In the future. The main question is you said youve gone on tv and set this last only a couple of months. Can you give us a clear timeframe here to expect something this spring, this summer, this fall . When can we expect this pause to end . Secy granholm we are working as fast as we can. It will take a lot of information. Let me giveon example we do these reviews periodically. The last one was in 20182019. At the time of that review, we were only exporting for bcs billion cubic feet of lng and now we are exporting 14 billion and we have another 12 billion under construction. There is another 22 billion that have been authorized. Thats 48 billion worth of lng thats been authorized. Thats still happening but at some point, what does this due to prices at home if we are exporting all of this natural gas . Our Manufacturing Sector relies upon natural gas for power as well as commercial and residential. Is there an impact on price . Should we be taking into account all of these countries that have pledged to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels . What will their outcome be . Will there be a building out of stranded assets if we permit future ones . The ones that have been authorized or not touched by this pause. Is just to do a study we are required to do to see whether its in the Public Interest for new projects. Our National Labs are doing this as a modeling study and they take into account a whole area of input. Like with all modeling, it takes some time but we are working through it. You mentioned 2018 and doing the analysis. There were several studies commissioned by the Energy Department in 20182019 that showed thatlng exports produced less greenhouse emissions in those areas. But environmentalists have said those studies are now outdated. I want to see if you agree. Secy granholm did totally is. Weve done this analysis periodically since 2012. This built on previous analyses but the fact that the volume of export now are overwhelmingly greater than what it was when the last analysis was done requires take a few months pause to make sure we are doing this right. The question this is a lot of folks a raise this issue of what is the lifecycle of Greenhouse Gas emissions as a result of exporting lng . Natural gas emissions on their own are less than cold. The question has been raised as to how you liquefy, how you transport, what is the actual impact over the process of all of it . Some studies have said it does more Greenhouse Gas emissions than coal. This is why we have to have the labs that are objective. We just need the data to determine what is happening on the ground and make an informed decision thats in the Public Interest which is what the natural gas exporters need to do. You said this will not impact our relationships with their allies in the short term. There are others who have reaffirmed this in back that up. There are 17 plan projects that will now be delayed and it looks like we will need our allies in europe and asia for quite some time. Im wondering what your message is when it comes to the longerterm impact that the pause could have . Secy granholm there are 12 billion cubic feet that are currently under construction. They wont be up until before 2030 or so. This monthlong caused not affect longterm. I think its 12 projects that had applied for authorization. We said lets hold onto the 12 that have not been authorized in all these others have been authorized and before we take another jump, lets make sure we are doing this in the right way. Even though the 12 will now take longer, you dont think that will have an impact on our production or our ability to export . Secy granholm not at all given how much we export. 22 billion cubic feet have not begun construction yet but i dont know if all of those will be done. We have authorized so much that we wouldnt be taking there is an exception in the pause that if there is a National Security reason, we can authorize further. The bottom line is this is not going to impact any relationship we have with their allies or their ability to access energy. We would not do it if it did. May be some dont have the relationship and theyre looking to get potential lng exports and they look at this pause and say what does this mean for the future . Secy granholm its a months long pause. For a few months, they will wait and see perhaps before they apply but they have to get their act together as well. This will not affect relationships with any of our allies and it should not cause great uncertainty. We are doing what we are required to do. I understand the concerns of making sure we can supply our allies. We have crafted this in a way we will make sure that Energy Continues to flow. We are the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. We will continue to be the largest exporter in the world. New york times reported the white house as directed the Energy Department to expand its evaluation of lng project to consider climate change. The Energy Department has never rejected a proposed natural gas project because it his expected environmental impact. Do you see that changing in the future . We have to evaluate what is in the Public Interest. Climate is part of what would be considered in the Public Interest. The impacts on communities like i talked about the river parishes. What does it mean for that public to have additional lng . Those are all questions. Those are all things that the labs and the objective modelers will evaluate we have another audience question on this topic. I think that speaks to what i was trying to get out is the uncertainty. How do you answer criticism that the lng permit pause could more into a bent and a second biden term . Secy granholm i am not projecting forward what the objective modelers and scientists will tell us. We let them do their work. We want to continue continue to supply the world with lng. That is not even a question. A ban is not a question . Secy granholm there will not be a ban on lng because weve already authorized 48 billion cubic feet of export capacity. There will not be a ban on lng. So no ban, . Secy granholm the word ban suggests we will stop lng exports and that will not happen. Those contracts are in existence in the authorization that previously occurred will stay in place and we will take a look at what the Global Demand is and take a look what the supply is and whether other nations are doing to bring on their supply. What it does for cost at home and thats an important factor as well. You also talked about china and chinese products and the impact its had a market. We have a question from axios who says last year you decided not to award a 200 million grant to a Battery Company after lawmakers raised concerns about the companies links to the Chinese Communist party. What is your line in the sand about when companies with ties to china qualify for getting federal dollars . Secy granholm we have set up a whole system for evaluating those who are applying for u. S. Taxpayer grants. If the country is controlled by a foreign entity of concerned like china, we are not going to go forward with the grant in that way. Our system includes a process thats similar where we evaluate what the risks are but we want to be clear that we want to develop our intellectual property and keep their intellectual property here and manufacture it here and manufacture it with american businesses and American Workers. You have all of these chinese products and many of them are key to the consumer that are coming in and flooding the market. It makes it difficult for the u. S. To get their products out to consumers. What is your thought on how this needs to be addressed in are some of these American Companies going to have to be bailed out . Secy granholm i dont know about bailing out but i know the president s strategy which is why the industrial strategy is so important, being able to put tax credits on incentives to invest in america is an important part of leveling the playing field. Carrots in that way, bring those investments here and especially helping governors to compete in keeping investments here undergirds all of that. Come investing to ensure we have key manufacturing capability in this nation. Thats what the Inflation Reduction Act is all about the bipartisan infrastructure act is about minutes our thought behind their trade policy is all about. There is more to come on that for the bottom line is its a holistic strategy to make america irresistible and it is working. Can you say a little more . You say there is more to come. Any sense of timing or what we might be able to secy granholm i appreciate the effort, but no. Democrats have historically opposed new mining initiatives due to the potential environmental harms and land degradation. Can we solve the rare mineral supply issues the u. S. Is facing without tapping into our own Mineral Reserve . Secy granholm we support updating the mining laws which are 150 years old. We can do sustainable attraction and we have allies doing that same thing like canada and australia. We also have a whole strategy around recycling. If you can take a battery thats in your ipad and extract the lithium and the other Critical Minerals from it and put it to use an electric vehicle battery, that is a component of the stuff we are funding. We are also funding sustainable extraction. We know we need lithium, cobalt, graphite and a whole aerate of Critical Minerals in order to make sure this clean energy works. The full supply chain is part of whatever Program Offices working on investing in its part of what our grandson manufacturing supply chain offices working on. Its part of what we are doing in the International Front in french shoring and developing strong relationships with countries that share our values and that we can create a buyer and seller market with. There is a lot of discussion now among electric vehicles and your department has done a lot to incentivize the production and promotion of electric vehicles. I want to ask about that there are a lot of companies coming to the u. S. To build electric vehicles and get some of these incentives but at the same time for consumers, it still difficult for them to find models that meet the requirements. What is your thought on that . Will this even out over time . Secy granholm thats a great point. We want to incentivize Domestic Production make sure people have access to these tax credits. The strategy is to get manufacturing back in the u. S. Incentivizing the tax credits, the automakers want their customers to qualify. They are bringing their production back on shore to be able to enable customers to get 7,500 off the hood at a dealer when they buy an electric vehicle. We are seeing a whole bunch of new models coming online, whole bunch more manufacturing happening and i think the unevenness of this whole push will even out over time but the bottom line is, it really is the amount of investment and work being done on evs and batteries across the country is amazing. There is a lot being done on charging stations as well which is a big factor. Secy granholm charging stations need to be made in america as well. You also want them available on the highway. You drive an electric vehicle. Have you had moments where you been low on power had to scramble for a charger . Secy granholm absolutely and thats why the bipartisan infrastructure law is able to fill in the pockets were you cant charge. We have a joint office between the department of energy and transportation. All of the states now have their plans approved and their money in hand and youre starting to see them break ground on adding charging stations in states. The First Tranche of money went to the transportation corridor. You have to have a charging station on the freeway or on a highway every 50 miles, not more than a mile off the freeway. It has to be enabled so you will see those and it fills in the gap so the private sector will see the demand is high. The second tranche was for areas like urban areas or rural areas where the private sector wasnt going but we want to make sure we have enough charging in place. All of that is happening right now. Clearly, we need more. We have 170,000 charging stations across the country. The president s goal is to get to 500,000 and we think we will get there by 2026. There is a question on the spr. Can you elaborate on the innovation of the spr fixedprice contracts and the potential opportunity to expand the countrys Energy Security . Secy granholm the spr is tremendous tool. We have the Largest Petroleum reserve of any nation on earth. Its there to ensure that there is enough case there is an emergency. We released millions of barrels when russia invaded ukraine. Than russian russian oil was not flowing in the market because of sanctions and there was a supply crunch. We released from their Strategic Petroleum deserves and we are in the process of replenishing. We are buying millions of barrels every month now. We have another solicitation every month or so. We are starting to see that replenishment. We want to make sure weve got enough supply for emergencies and we want to make sure we are not doing anything that will take away supply from the market at a time when prices might be high. Prices have dropped significantly since the invasion of ukraine. Im sorry to jump around but we got a lot to cover. You also mentioned the hydrogen hub. You mentioned Hydrogen Production and use. They are also tied to the biden incentivizing union jobs. How will those promised union jobs be impacted . If the guidelines on Hydrogen Production tax credits are restrictive . Secy granholm we are waiting on final guidance from the treasury department. We are asking sincerely for input so when the final guidance comes out, we take into account the concerns of industry, stakeholders, etc. We are feeling excited about the interest on the side of the private sector. David crane is here and he is in charge of our infrastructure column within the department of energy and has been visiting folks who are investors in the east coast, new york and houston and there is a great amount of excitement. Weve done a couple of things that are different. Since this is a new market, we have set up a demandside strategy. Who will offer Clean Hydrogen . How do you make sure that happens . Have you make sure is not superexpensive . We had deployed something akin to a contract where we guarantee a certain price for the hydrogen so that the hub itself can guarantee output as well as input. The hub has all sorts of businesses that are dappled whether its electrolyzers to make the Clean Hydrogen receive methane reformers and Carbon Capture efforts. What is the Pipeline Infrastructure . Is there a fuelcell component for transportation and heavy duty trucking . All of these components of a hydrogen hub her a piece of it. It is crowding in billions of dollars of private sector money because people see hydrogen as a huge opportunity for industrial decarbonization as well and so we are bullish that this is going to happen. We had another audience question going back to the Inflation Reduction Act and the tax credits there. They want to know your response to concerns that carrot based policies like the infrastructure law and the ira exclude other countries black to be able to partake in the clean energy economy. I have had a lot of conversations with counterparts who have said thank you guys because it will spur our governments to be able to do the same and we say great, there is enough to go around. A 23 trillion Global Economic opportunity and the demand by 195 countries who have stepped up and said they want to reduce their Carbon Emissions and get a net zero by 2050 means these products have to be built in a lot of countries in the Energy Components of it, they can happen anywhere. We think we are inspiring other countries to do similarly aggressive steps and we have heard that from them and we are excited about it. There is enough to go around. We have such a technical question. Are you on track to announce selections for the 50 3 billion industrial carbonization foa in q1 . Yes. [laughter] short and sweet. We have one final question before i get to that, i want to thank you for being here and the organizers of the event. Coating leaders, coteam leaders, the organizer followed michigan native frank and club event coordinators, thank you for participating in our discussion and all of you who sent questions. I have to remind you of a couple of quick upcoming events. On tuesday, march 5 join us with entrepreneurs to discuss their new book down to business 51 leaders share practical advice on how to become a young entrepreneur. I am told this is also applicable to much older entrepreneurs if they are interested. We will hear from the mother of jim foley, a freelance journalist captured and killed by isis in 2014 about her new book. I sincerely hope you join us. As is custom for the National Press club i want to give you our National Press club mug. May you drink much coffee from it. Thank you. We have one last question. We tried to have a bit of a fun one for the last one. You had a bit of a brush with journalism in your early career. You are a Customer Service representative for the los angeles times. What insights can you give us into customer complaints . They are really passed off if they do not get the paper on their porch i 7 00 a. M. Thats the most important. L. A. Times, back in the day. Secretary, thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2024] it helped unleash the american economy. Unemployment is at record lows and Consumer Confidence is up. Factories are being built at