Biden to Pick Jennifer Granholm, Gina McCarthy for Energy, Climate Roles

Ms. McCarthy, who declined to comment, will work closely with former Secretary of State John Kerry, Mr Biden’s special envoy on climate change. Her position does not require confirmation from the Senate.

Mr. Biden’s top advisers have also shown more interest in Rep. Deb Haaland (D., NM) to head the Home Affairs Department. But House Democrats have pushed back, telling transition officials that they cannot afford to lose one more lawmaker to the government because of the small majority of the party, people familiar with the discussions said.

The president-elect is expected to formally announce key energy and environmental positions this weekend, but a person familiar with the internal deliberations said Mr. Biden was still deliberating on his EPA administrator.

Ms. Granholm, who backed Mr. Biden as president in March, was the Democratic Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011 and as the state’s attorney general for the past four years. One of her signature policies as governor has been a mandate for the state to increase the share of its energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

If confirmed as Energy Secretary, Ms. Granholm would oversee US scientific research and the country’s nuclear arsenal, and could spur the development of low-carbon energy resources through the distribution of federal loans. She would also likely work closely with other senior officials, including the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House climate coordinator, to pursue Mr. Biden’s campaign promise to achieve net zero emissions in the U.S. by 2050.

Ms Granholm did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Biden’s transition team declined to comment.

As Governor, Ms. Granholm pushed for a renewable portfolio standard that requires 10% of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2015, a percentage that was later increased. During her tenure, she also worked closely with the Obama administration to help the auto industry, which was on the verge of collapse after the economic downturn. She has credited Mr. Biden for playing a key role in strengthening General Motors Co.

and Chrysler during that period.

Mrs. Granholm and Mr. Biden have had a close relationship for many years. She helped Mr. Biden prepare for his vice-presidential debate during the 2008 campaign.

Other candidates Mr. Biden considered for the position of energy secretary included Arun Majumdar, a professor at Stanford University and former vice president of energy at Alphabet Inc.’s

Google and former Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.

Mr. Majumdar could be nominated for another senior position in the Energy Department, possibly deputy secretary, said some of those familiar with the matter. During the Obama administration, he became the first leader of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, or ARPA-E, working there from 2009 to 2012. The agency finances innovation projects at an early stage, following the example of the research arm of the Ministry of Defense. this is known as a catalyst for breakthroughs.

Mr. Biden has pledged to put a new emphasis on this type of work in government, including creating a new agency called “ARPA-C” to tackle climate change. Mr. Biden called climate change an urgent crisis and proposed the most aggressive climate agenda of any major presidential candidate, analysts say, likely putting the Energy Department at the center of some of his biggest ambitions.

He has pledged to spend $ 2 trillion to help the country eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet and grow the domestic workforce. Mr. Biden wants this money to help drive progress and innovation for U.S. scientists and companies in the power grid, utility-scale batteries, electrified transportation, carbon capture technology, and advanced nuclear power – all efforts supported by the Energy department.

It would be a stark contrast to the Trump administration, which emphasized the department’s role in promoting the growth of cleaner energy in the U.S. Mr Trump has questioned the science of climate change and has made efforts to promote the use of fossil fuels to boost the US. oil and coal industry. Major initiatives of his energy division included an attempted bailout for coal-fired energy, support for stimulating US natural gas exports and negotiations with other major oil producers.

Ms. McCarthy is the latest Obama-era veteran to be named to a top position, and she’s bringing significant influence to the White House. As a leader at the EPA during the Obama administration, she helped create and implement the country’s first major regulations on the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

In her new role in the White House, she will oversee climate action across the government. Mr Biden’s climate advisers have pushed the president-elect to address climate change through all executive agencies – outside of the EPA and other energy regulators. Ms. McCarthy will coordinate that work in areas that could include financial regulation, transportation finance and other infrastructure policies, according to a person with knowledge of the transition team’s planning.

Ms. McCarthy headed the EPA’s office dealing with air pollution from 2009 and took over as EPA administrator during Obama’s second term.

It has a long history in environmental policy. Prior to joining the EPA, Ms. McCarthy served as the chief environmental watchdog under two former Republican governors: Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2003 and later Connecticut governor Jodi Rell.

Earlier this year, she took charge of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the country’s leading environmental groups and the legal engineers behind several lawsuits that fought the Trump administration’s efforts to relax environmental and climate regulations.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected] and Timothy Puko at [email protected]