Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, is under scrutiny by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, as they initiate a probe into her 2023 taxpayer-funded electric vehicle (EV) road trip.
The investigation, led by Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-TX), seeks to evaluate the purposes, costs, and repercussions of this multi-state journey.
Secretary Granholm’s road trip was reportedly “intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars.”
However, it has garnered attention for allegedly inconveniencing American citizens, and thereby raising concerns about the broader implications of the Biden Administration’s green agenda.
The Committee members elucidated their concerns in a letter to Secretary Granholm, stating, “We are alarmed by recent reports of your four-day summer 2023 electric vehicle (EV) road trip apparently intended to showcase the Biden Administration’s progress in achieving a radical green agenda.”
One incident during the trip involved Secretary Granholm’s internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, operated by Department of Energy (DOE) staff, blocking an EV-only charging station.
This action, seemingly in contradiction to the trip’s green energy promotion goals, resulted in a family, stranded in “sweltering” Georgia heat with an infant and a low EV battery charge, calling the police.
The lawmakers reported that Granholm’s staff’s actions were due to a schedule that was “painstakingly mapped out ahead of time” due to the scarcity of working EV chargers along the planned route.
Chairman Comer and Rep. Fallon have requested documents and communications to better understand this trip, highlighting their concern over the Biden Administration’s “attempt to force a radical increase in the number of EVs on America’s roads” and the imposition of “sweeping green regulation on traditional cars, trucks, other highway vehicles, and locomotives.”
According to EPA estimates, the proposed regulations would necessitate electric vehicles to constitute 67% of all new car sales by 2032.
The lawmakers are particularly alarmed by the potential risks posed by such rapid adoption of EVs, “to the already strained U.S. power grid and supply chain,” and by the removal of consumer choice in vehicle purchases.
They are also concerned about the ramifications on domestic energy producers, left “searching for answers.”
“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,” expressed the Committee Republicans in their letter.
They emphasized their commitment to “preserving freedoms like vehicle consumer choice in the face of an unproven, burdensome, and expensive Biden Administration push to force all Americans to buy EVs.”
