Granholm: We Have to ‘Use’ War to Move to Clean Energy, Before War, Many of Us Hoped We’d Focus ‘Solely on Clean Energy’ 

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that many hoped “we would be focusing solely on clean energy solutions, renewable, making that transition,” but the war in Ukraine has thrown a wrench into that and said that “we have got to use this reason to become energy independent with clean energy.”

Host Chris Hayes said that he would probably take a similar approach to President Joe Biden because people need gas to get around and gas price increases harm people, but “At the same time, it just seems so depressingly insane that we are here in 2022 and it’s like, let’s drill baby, drill, let’s get more oil on those markets, this is the solution. And it’s like it’s always the next cigarette is the one we’re going to give up, but for now, we need to buy another carton. Why should I not be depressed by this?”

Granholm responded, “I totally get it, Chris, believe me. I think a lot of us came into this hoping that we would be focusing solely on clean energy solutions, renewable, making that transition, but we didn’t anticipate that Vladimir Putin would wage war on Ukraine and cause these markets to go out of control. And so, that’s why the president said this is a two-step solution. One is, let’s increase supply right now because we’re on a wartime footing. And we want to reduce people’s pain at the pump and safeguard them against this incredible volatility. But second, we have got to use this reason to become energy independent with clean energy. We don’t want to be relying upon fossil fuel markets that are incredibly volatile or from countries that don’t have our interests at heart. So, ultimately, the best solution is to go clean.”

She continued, “And that’s why the second part of what he announced was invoking the Defense Production Act to help increase the building of batteries for electric vehicles in the United States. He also referred to the Weatherization Assistance Program, which — we released $3.2 billion to the states to make sure that people don’t use as much energy as they are right now because their homes may be leaky. We want to invest in renewables. We want to invest in the technologies that decarbonize the fossil fuel industry. And that’s why this second part, to become energy independent with clean energy, is the medium-to-long-term strategy.”

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