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The
100-member Senate backed Granholm by 64 to 35, more than the
simple majority needed. Several Republicans from states that
produce fossil fuels, including Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven,
both of North Dakota, and Steve Daines, of Montana, joined
Democrats in supporting her.
Granholm wants to boost jobs in manufacturing of electric
vehicles (EVs) and wind and solar power, and is likely to play a
big role in Biden's goal to put the country on a path of
decarbonizing the economy by 2050.
She said during Senate hearings that critical minerals, used in
batteries for EVs and to support the electric grid, in wind
turbines and solar panels, can be mined responsibly in the
United States.
Some Republicans who voted against her, including Senator John
Barrasso of top coal producing state Wyoming, said Biden's green
push would harm high paying jobs in fossil fuels.
Biden "has declared war on American energy and American energy
workers and I just can't stand by as this administration tries
to crush Wyoming's economy," Barrasso said shortly before the
vote.
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from coal- and natural
gas-producing West Virginia, said Granholm, when governor,
helped save the auto industry during the Great Recession.
"She brought in new investment in new industry and she created
new jobs, leaving no worker behind," said Manchin, the chairman
of the Senate energy committee.
The energy secretary oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile
and the emergency petroleum reserve, and is a member of the
president's cabinet.
Once sworn in, Granholm, 62, will be the second female U.S.
energy secretary after Hazel O'Leary served in the Clinton
administration in the 1990s.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Peter Graff)
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