Ms. Granholm is widely credited during her two terms as Michigan governor with steering her state through a recession and working with the Obama administration on a 2009 bailout of the automobile industry that included clean energy investments and incentives for carmakers to invest in technologies like battery storage. After her second term ended, in 2011, she became an advocate for renewable energy development, including giving a TED Talk on how investing in alternative energy resources can bolster state economies, something Mr. Biden has focused on in his coronavirus recovery plan. “The economics are clear: The time for a low-carbon recovery is now,” Ms. Granholm wrote this year in The Detroit News, making the case for Michigan and other states to embrace low-carbon recovery measures to help rebuild from the economic hit of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision to choose Ms. Granholm was seen as a nod to environmental groups, some of which had waged a campaign against Ernest J. Moniz, a former energy secretary who had long been seen as the front-runner to take the helm of department a second time. Though he was a favorite candidate of labor groups and a close adviser to Mr. Biden, activists objected strongly to financial ties he had to the fossil fuel industry and positions he had taken in favor of continued development of natural gas.

Source: New York Times December 15, 2020 23:11 UTC