Granholm’s EV trip draws House GOP investigation

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced a probe Tuesday morning into a recent interstate trip by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm intended to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption, during which departmental staff vehicles allegedly blocked off a charging station for her.

In a letter Tuesday, committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and environment subcommittee Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) requested documents and communications relating to the September trip, including the itinerary, names of drivers and passengers and a list of vehicles involved. 

The letter specifically mentions an incident during the trip in which a staffer reportedly blocked off an EV charger in Georgia to reserve it for Granholm’s use. A family seeking to use the charger called the police during the episode, although blocking off a charger is not illegal under Georgia law.

Comer and Fallon wrote that the decision was made “so you could stay on a schedule which was ‘painstakingly mapped out ahead of time’ because of limited, slow, and nonworking EV chargers along your route. In ‘sweltering’ Georgia heat, your staff’s actions caused a family with an infant child and low charge on their EV battery to call the police out of urgency while waiting at this charging station.”

Granholm said in House testimony earlier in the month that the incident was the result of “poor judgment on the part of the team.”

“I can only imagine they wanted to continue moving, but the bottom line is, it’s not going to happen again,” she told Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.).

Comer and Fallon’s letter also takes broader aim at EVs and the Biden administration’s efforts to expand their use to reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector, invoking the recent strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW).

Although UAW members’ demands have included assurances that the transition to EVs will protect union members’ jobs, UAW President Shawn Fain has denied the union is opposed to the transition, earlier praising the Biden administration for “reject[ing] the false choice between a good job and a green job.”  

An Energy Department spokesperson referred The Hill to Granholm’s explanation during the hearing, while also defending the Biden administration’s progress on electrification.

“For over a decade, while our global competitors geared up for the clean energy transition, America lagged behind,” the spokesperson said. “Now, with President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda we have over $7 billion to build out convenient and reliable EV charging infrastructure, a portion of which is already awarded to every state, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The private sector is following suit with equally ambitious investments — growing our workforce and keeping money in the pockets of hardworking Americans.”

—Updated at 2:37 p.m.