Transcripts For CSPAN3 Energy 20240705

Granholm Test Pilot School despite russias invasion of ukraine. She appeared before the Natural Resources and the outline the presence. This hearing is about two hours. Ast. [inaudible] blog again because its mans. [inaudible] im happy to welcome my friend secretary Jennifer Granholm to discuss business binds budget request energy. Center granholm, you for being here today last week i have traveling to ukraine to me there is a last is his efforts to ensure ukrainian people and be back as it gives innovation. We also discussed into our european allies when the energy work on the streets for over a year on the share is a matter of insuring their efforts to address Climate Change with greater geopolitical risk energy were reliable and making homes just as yours and she has allowed to use russias sources as it is friends and allies in the United States is also horrible because the virus Us Energy Independence as is our overall we rely on foreign adversaries are she will, nuclear fuel or energy vehicles. These are all things we can and should be producing start to finish in not sourcing from our allies in an effort to be honest about the dirty supplychain secret with various Energy Resources and analogies we are sacrificing security and we need only look to germany to see how that worked out slightly physical actions of the United States is prioritizing our Energy Security and geopolitical the same time. This means that energy bills lawfully and the us, not reinterpreting these laws to finish an agenda. It means we in Congress Need to pass Predictable Energy reform will level it means taking possible steps to reduce our National Debt which is one of the biggest threats to our National Security pda as in the department of energy in the last couple of years a lot to implement with the energy frightfully bipartisan infrastructure law, shifts in science and insulation reduction these bills established a Program Funding necessary to ensure american Energy Security and us competitiveness all environments. Insuring these bills effectively and efficiently as congress intended is one laptop and i look forward to working with secretary granholm to sorry to say in patient has been goingvery smoothly. Although we are technologies is first and foremost an Energy Security yield and is intense in this regard is the effort to involve law that im a student asked. Our only in positions feet the fire in access to law for its clear intent. He provided the so obvious in violation of the law that is that the intended benefits are obese is lost a supervision is congress and ask these records to our Energy Committee and the decision process. On average it takes five years to present major Energy Projects in this country thats faster. This pace is too slow to achieve any of our goals better energy, reducing conditions or investing in was impacted by the Energy Transition i look forward to hearing how the gop is selling energy. As i said there is significant reforms we that are possible action from hundreds we want novartis recommendations. Weve been spending more than we bring in every year for the last 20 years as a way that we face today is 1. 46 im concerned. He is asking for a more than 13 percent increase over 23. Especially since dod received 1 billion in the next decade of bipartisan and ira we have to say enough is enough. Our debt is not just following problem. Its congress administrators led by both parties need to Work Together im disappointed youre playing a game of chicken and resort agreement to pay the bills to reduce the best moving forward estimates resolve this is for progress in the ministration to return to budget negotiating process is to their house. Already falling behind. Our interaction with was at risk of over both chambers this there was a resolution asking the patient time was 1 billions of dollars in base year after year im lying on its solutions on our operations will work with us to come up with more Spending Plans to deficit reduction is time for all of you are job. Now fully we can get this Energy Projects across the countryb he will West Virginians included in the departments budget request was funding for research and development, Carbon Capture electrician storage. These technologies are key to continue producing West Virginias Energy Resource and cleanest ways possible also supports the National Energy Technology Laboratory are sold out over that is seen as well Energy Innovation will visions and grandparents these are our mission to leadership of the interagency working which has also been in the process my best so that i will work session. Be turned over to the ranking member. For holding this very important secretary granholm welcome its been two years since joe bidens office today is the opportunity to assess the results of his energy policies. Its been a disaster for our nation. President by in an Energy Economy despite transworld was one of the songs in the this revolution for our world is the world is our eight allows the child worrying about energy markets. Lowering greenhouse excuses for jobs, getting family studies prices. I think they want to build on the energy success but not joe i sent the last two years rendering those games. Having and while gas and produces return. Hes actually an assertion with zealous want to hes full of practice and accessible reliable energy. And hes with countless blocks in every way on energy production. It is unisex, i should. How is at about . He did see two dictators pleaded with dictators to produce more oil and rated artisans Energy Supply heat is acceptable on the map, is is more energy here at home. Called. Since breast is my Office Energy prices are up for his asking is, 31 percent, eating well is a 300 percent accuracy is 23 percent. It has been stressful performance by this ministration. The president hasnt belonging while gas at a despised job sharing suggests eight years. This is a fantasy. The world is using as well and natural gas for the foreseeable future. The energy on analysis confirms this. The only real question is where is the world energy . I for the president and this administration to face that reality if we follow president by will become even more on china and russia. The police applied is of little boundary technologies present things we have many of these minerals here in the unitedstates. But this ministration blocks access to them. I would rather get these minerals from china than mine here at home. Last year energy intends to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to micromanage it is a title company. Last month the values reported White House Deputy chief of staff saying chinas companies are going to be a players he said in the energy agenda. Meanwhile scientists at our own Energy Behind analysts determined that the covid this late from aloud and launch i think Many Americans are asking themselves on questions. Why is july and auditioning to that someone is in your 7 Million People worldwide and why is the lighthouse saying that china is a big player in our Energy Policy . They shouldnt be a minimum you should make it clear will not on china linked companies president by at least owns that to the American People. Centers are now able to resume his or granholm for opening statements. Secretarygranholm. You sharon manchin and a nasty with you today to discuss Energy Budget request. The last two years and in meeting many nations biggest needs from the our Energy Security and reassuring supply chain manufacturing just are asking for cuttingedge research and comments, through maintaining a Strong Nuclear disturbance, we critical steps to ensure the United States outmaneuver and outcompete our rivals and create new jobs and opportunities for our people s budget for sites i4 will empower us to drive these efforts forward you in the face of emerging challenges. Russias american war on ukraine as a over Energy Security risks inherent in over reliance on error anyone says energy since weaponization of fossil fuel supplies has injected three free volatility into markets this is this already working people in the United States with Higher Energy costs. The response we are pursuing a strategy of Energy Security through energy accuracy Congress Efforts have made that exceeds the worlds most attractive destination or investments in new energy is falling is lies on this moment. Are packing largescale deployment of clean technologies, solar, wind electric vehicles storage removing authorization of next version to pass, advanced nuclear er Oxygen Technology life on capture, that a nation. We are supporting projects to build more resilience reliable read and integrate the number of solutions whether interruptions at the same time engaging in a long overdue effort to leverage supplychain technologies at home so that no adversary will be able to threaten our access to technology and this is the asset of the were lastly our investment in americas batteries, solar wind supplychain has reached nearly 100 billion. Fueled by thousands of jobs this is also a benefit for the American Consumer introducing Technology Since made in the usa. So we know that this body of energy accuracy depends on continuous innovation. The more we can improve the performance and reduce the cost of these technologies thats the faster we can use m and over the bills will be these deposition programs will fasttrack for a wide range of Energy Solutions including funding for our office of carbon management, the advanced series of new us counties as well as with her critical carbon sources. Water expands our office of science and all other things this would wrap up our Isotope Program which is critical competitiveness and defense solutions. But it also includes owner of the numbers for future research further our two artists residential along with Energy Security, the prioritizes the area of National Security is really to sought permission for our National Nuclear security and insertion. Todays changing national and partners makes our Nuclear Insurance carriers to our National Defense and security of our allies the president s request we give the nsa a means to modify the infrastructure for this program is the nsas wider priorities around armscontrol, nonproliferation, counterterrorism is a simple is able to progress in these matters artisans and has received from his name on this in a is more to repair the tax it continued support. I believe the president s what it will allow us to shore up Energy Security, National Security while reinforcing our efforts to congresses legislative action the. Thank you for your opportunity to address you i will move forward your questions. Will start now. Holding the accidents were cars, my personal belief is we didnt need any that is personally. With that being said something changing into the transportation mode when we have very dependable on for a supply chains, that doesnt make sense so is the owner they present hundred 50 we can source if basic resource process it. North america for countries of free trade we also agree to examine it to our allies. That they would be reliable supply chains. Any other reason was for the manufacturing of the parking lot. You know ive been concerned about this go through this enzyme is the manufacturing powders and its so what weve done is what you all did. You basically provided, its upside down. You provided basically a is a based on exactly what we thought. Its of projects in powers, lithium batteries. Our is in the process. Notice that the treasury and i understand came from you all is just the long run the othergetting on. Fromb we lost this in, we want this overseas because theres no urgency for our manufacturers to do this as a problem im having i want to reliance on foreign supplychain here in the United States. So can you assess moments with the treasury to credits because theyre saying you all told them. Thank you so much mister chairman. Yes, we advised the Treasury Department on issues relating to definitions as it involves energy and we did advise and use the action that was in a bipartisaninfrastructure law. The exact definition. There was nothing time to. We tried additional intent based on the law in terms of the definition. You already do business. Is the you can apply the extraction processing fee will supply under manufacturing, we can, we would have qualified the other side long line on this is universally and that we lost all or as much as possible work with a series of. Liberalizing of the definition puts more money doesnt want most budget this is not the confines of what we had ceos for before problem im seeing one of the major going further and further in debt looking at the same results you get there reason you are loved and lost it somewhere else thats cheaper and easier to get rather the backdoor. Because china would be one of the and these concern thank you for your leadership on this but we should all feel pleased to know that in the salary supplychain says these laws and simply term and 100 50 Battery Companies supplychain elements that are opening up in the United States where it went to europe or in china or in asia. 50 across all of these states that equals all 1 billion in investments in the us policy that this committee under your leadership as well as others has passed matters thats why were seeing all these Companies Come to the United States including extraction, processing, or manufacturing, old supplychain is very exciting to see that things are actually. Is a need to have years of law and make sure that we do it here as long as were subsidizing seven it somewhere else, nothing for the first 90 days, theres 7500. So theyre showing me every step of the way that a liberalized and more money out as you can my goodness were going moving to ev to basically support that transportation on top of that providing the people and 30,000 to buy thing also were outlawing using a combustible engines, and we can i say let the market go where is, a decision on where i want to buy or not. Jesus does, my time is up. I actually believe the president should be working through on the so we could have seen you cant pay with National Debt, so we need to get that done. Hopefully will is financing, the effects this need to hold it are energy hostage. I agree with you but is outfoxed, you cant say once i say youre right but we wont get a permit that. How is impacting your department if this charade plays on western. The National Security of the runs through the apartment of that is we cannot jeopardize our National Security or competitiveness in attempting to get all these investments back intothe United States. Thank you missouri. Let me fall on some questions you been doing last Years Department would make the milliondollar grant to microvast. Taking microvast and came from one of the United States. Manchin ceo brian i am honored this is a technology we developed in china. In fact its the sign here at the local successfully recruited microvast ceos to come from the United States to china on a program they said we will return to the United States 3 million to the United States. The ceo is a participant in the Chinese Communist party and you can see that and are single in yellow and the department of energy that is so that the secretary for full hour for me despite design grant announcement and despite that ever and single that no decision has yet been made on funding a chinese backed company. And you insure us today you will not go forward with 200 million or more to microvast or any other company under such chineseinfluence . Assure you we are vigilant that ensuring no taxpayer dollars the state owned enterprises by a chinese influence company. That award is still under the shenzhen and we will be back conclusion on it is a selection wasnt an award. On all on awards get money, they start out asa selection going through the negotiating process. Nothing is final until then and negotiation is over. The department mentioned we have entities law with no funding for the crew all vetting process for these Companies Including partnership diet so that we can collect taxpayer dollars both now and in future. Perhaps when you make the decision to to Say Something in his will cause this concern for both sides of your to issues, last year and is aggressively the idea of that covid along why is your as part of energy to live is most likely the origin of covid. Do you agree it was most likely lead fromchinese lab . The flow its because theres the opinions that the it community. President signed into law bipartisan bill decision to declassify information on his knowledge and information supporting the artist in his finding that covid origin the . The director of thousands information. You leave your legit information. I know some. Organizations he is right and middle of the epas inches of existence. Univision. Everything is will make it work on russia and china for solar panels . So beautiful after the election was for every driver white and indecision and cars and trucks letting me the the in our state . Inefficientis not the van. The epa defines reduce missions the actions can be best produced through interpretation. That might be battery electric for the cells but there is not a bad vehicles internal combustion engines we know that its the source of greenhouse executions and we are thinking everyone who reads that we dopresentations need to. Is gasoline i know youre familiar with the price of gasoline, response is reset the process. Selena to the election you as his energy and this demonstration is also well over 1 Million Dollars data from the Petroleum Reserve so that emergency light is not a real four in presses are all this deal with the release that the American People need price. . It is clear that the slide is, fx, people pay. The challenge is that is created, more so when is ukraines barrels it resulted in this option which is why the president wanted to use this is actually a reserves to stabilize prices and provide the sublime necessary to see life will as well. It is an increase as a result of next move to inch supply and increase their funds, their budgets. It is no reason why we continue to support the move to the patient so that we can have, well have to rely on these sources has called our domestic oil and gas is increased supply. So one of your recognition is real well made easier to produce well . the well and gas industry to increase option at the same time where increasing facilities are Energy Solutions. Great to see you here. I think that the profiles of my two colleagues of certain states that would present a more historic Energy Supply are interesting but i want to assure you there are many other parts of the United States are very enthusiastic about moving forward in the transformation amount of investment. I want to rewrite your own thoughts the advanced energy and National Security of the United States we are sending american place as a trailblazer clean Energy Economy and our fight against Climate Crisis agree more, thats what we did with these two pieces of legislation. Exactly what youre reading us on this, thats what he wants to see the vision and unleashes the novel. I just want more being the center on 17 million on in partnerships and science skills make sure our last argentine to be sent out. One thing i wish people would realize generally is hydrogen and moving forward on the hydrogen tax credit. I like to ask you this and when that guidance will be finalized. Obviously we want to see some entities paralyzed that do business with bpa. Throughout the vas cycle they might purchase a crisis in section anyway, i want to get lots on when we see the implementation and commit to working with us on solutions for the intended. I know the treasury is putting out diets as accident and. We have especially because we been sold to the researchers, will be determining those diets so they are, they know that is. Green hydrogen always is and focus on the for the great sea Energy Inflation were sent to their patients this summer. Bod will support election process. This innovation is just the work is being done. Would you agree that the claim would be a condition washington is alive so this watch in the industry so the least of his last year is for leslie try to have his restrictions to further advance thisprogram . Is is a fully it is a single easily now National Engines really sees can be done even though most of the commercial fusion is based upon not unless it demonstrates that is possible so that we can continue thank you for the support chips and science. The authorization is very allows us to continue to be responded. Fusion obviously is a hugely important piece of the user. With respect to volatility for see, im assuming the Clean Energy Manufacturing process withthe audible i have to ask you. Can go without asking a third, lolo rate ways now will you join us reorder complete working with and 878 so is your bucket but it seems like a lot but its not really percent of the remaining cleanup costs. We want somebody in quantity but i like to hear from your main ideas and what you do accelerate the process. With community the leadership is tremendous in ensuring wecontinue to increase the investment. So after continuously invest, the is the. Answer our offices are all. I look forward to discussions about this analysis and what it would communicate because it is a bipartisan agreement i would say this is a national. This is a cleanup effort that were still on this day published in the training time for a major transformation but we also have to clean up so we that we can continue to make progress on it. Thank you as well to chairman granholm. I wanted to talk about whatwe did with the chips inside. Advanced research specifically Green Technology , in order to win the race against china. This comes after years of work and passage of the Bipartisan Initiative that acquired dod to create National Quantum Research Centers. I believe its imperative in the United States continues to lead in quantum. Its simply a matter of National Security. We cannot let china get us in this important area. Think about montana, think about beautiful rivers and mountains and public lands we have in our amazing economy. We are also able to track and maintain the greatest axonal role because of the great quality of life we have their leader as well as optics in manufacturing and its a great place for further department of energy investment. Secretary granholm, what actions have you taken towards Montana University and the chips in science at . I know the National Quantum Research Centers program that was launched in 2020 has 575 million over five years and montana has been one of our partners in that and we want to continue to see that as a partner in the codesign center to manage that c2a Brookhaven National lab. We are proud of that and we are working with companies that are actively involved in developingmaterials , helping us make a roadmap. This budget will further those quantum ties and advanced computing science. We are grateful for the ability to ask formore and continue our leadership. Were all aware of the National Quantum Initiative Act expires this year. Do you agree, this should enhance and reauthorize the program . I do. Looking for an amazing quality of life, no traffic safe places to live montana is the great place. Secretary granholm, hydropower is reliable. Its the Energy Supply in montana, its carbon free. Its a renewable resource. Hydropower was not considered a renewable resource of energy and we got that changed. The Political Correctness dictated wind and solar but we got that fixed, its a wonderful source of Renewable Energy. I wish the federal government would find a way to not define agriculture as a renewable resource but were seeing many individuals who are trying to reach hydropower. This is ridiculous we cant. Department of energy belongs to the people of montana who support bands and the important bases of power the support for the region but im concerned theres an internal push within this administration, do you support the bridge existing hydropower dams . This is the matter that in litigation and i agree with you on hydropower 100 percent. Its renewable, chief foreign power that we shouldbe expanding. I also know there are activities around salmon fishing etc. They are under negotiation right now so beyond that i cant tell you much more. Do you support hydropower dams austin mark. I wish we could achieve. I never thought i would live to see the day when we would hear the chairman discussing breaching hydropower dams. Would you commit to me the breaching of the lower dams stand with montana to push back on any proposal towards breaching of an affordable baseload hydropower . I would stand with you on finding a winwin solution. Lastly im worried that the standards are being webinars and used in a partisan framework for antienergy initiatives. Would you propose limiting national gas appliances to new rules and transformers . This hasgot to stop. We saw eta come out and say 70 percent of vehicles, electric vehicles in the last few years, you cant have it both ways. We worked hard on Energy Efficiency issues and we used its a key way to reduce Energy Demand and liabilities. These actions were seeing to create unachievable standards that all law prohibit the use of natural gas appliances again i want to have a conversation about breaching hydropower now theyre limiting 50 percent of natural gas appliances inthe United States. This does not tell and harms Energy Security. Mister chairman ill say my colleagues were here this week. Please resend this rule on transformers. This is of the issue. My electric coops are not partisan folks, they are very pragmatic and i urge you to reversecourse. Find a real solution, not one that simply caters to this agreement delusion that dominating the discussion in washington. Please come back to common sense. We need your help. Thank you senator. Chairman despite all the clinical rhetoric for this morning about Domestic Production and energyrelated manufacturing i would point out the only coindustrial policy in the last 30 years as been the Inflation Reduction Act that our republican colleagues voted against. Several announcements in my home state regarding aviation, wind turbine manufacturing, 150 billion in private investment justin rose 46 factors, 18,000 jobs that will be created and 96 gigawatts of utility scale projects being announced. Thats the equivalent of 96 Nuclear Power plants in scale. I think you should be very proud of what you have accomplished. This is the biggest change in jobs in manufacturing in our lifetimes and the United States. Secretary i want to ask you did House Republicans insist on defaulting on the debt how does that impact your ability specifically to safely operate and regain our Nuclear Deterrent . Clearly the ability to modernize our system being dependent on being able to continue to ensure we have the safe Nuclear Deterrent and if we had to lay people off we put our nation in jeopardy. These projects soar and costs and delays so it is not just a cost issue, it is a National Security and our nations ability to protect ourselves that is at risk. In addition to all of the other issues related to competitiveness along the lines of what you just talked about. If we want to stop the stream of investment that you have listed although the number that i have is much higher than yours. I like your number. Im just referencing open sources so i look forward to working with you and hopefully i can revise my numbers upward. As someone who represents the workforce at two of our National Labs to who work very Nuclear Security i would just point out it would be to as you note Power Transformers really play such an Important Role in our grid. There has been a decades long trend of outsourcing manufacturing because we didnt have industrial policy with respect to transformers and i think we need to look at some of the things we have accomplished in the ira and see if we cant. Some of those incentives for transformers here. Im just curious how the d. O. E. Is looking at the supply shortage with respect to transformers and the need to reon sure that and sure that and what sorts of tools would you find helpful to create that industrial capacity in the United States . We have a shortage as you noted in transformers and we get significant amounts imported that we need to have this ability to manufacture inside the United States. The defense production act there are manufacturing and Energy Supply chain office, we have about 75 million. Its not enough. We need a larger investment so perhaps a onetime investment that we will invest in expansion for the building of these transformers so something that i would ask congress to consider with a one or two billiondollar commitment to build these transformers in the United States and i hope we can Work Together on taking that to the next level. Id be very interested in working with you on that. I think we should probably be looking at the utility at Something Like a production tax credit to also help with that. Transmission we are not building transmission fast enough. We will need more transmission. It is the bottleneck, the chief bottleneck for he eating are electric supplies in this country. One of the solutions would be to reconnect our existing transmission and that can really change the game. What is d. O. E. Looking at with respect to creating reconducting existing transmission while we figure out to build more transmission . Im so here happy to hear you talk about that. There are many proms you might have been building so. It was made possible through the infrastructure law. Theres a component with funding that is toward great improvement but a section of that is also available for entities that want to use it to reconduct and number to a Loan Program Office has the ability to provide access to capital for a reconnect during. We want to assist that case and i hope you can have a discussion on permitting because i do think theres bipartisan support for permitting and transmission. Thank you. I want to take the liberty i agree with you im proud of the ira in the way its going and what the intention was to do what im not proud of is not staying within the guidelines of what the cbo score was. I want to make sure we dont do poor scan the American Public thank you a thank you would thank you a pass on to what cost this much than thats where i come from. Im very proud of the results were getting. We knew it would do that and with that as the money runs out we can reauthorize it. Thats all im saying is dont bust it. Dont it wide open now. Im sorry with that. Senator murkowski snuck in on me. Thank you mr. Chairman and secretary welcome to the committee for its good to see you and thank you for what youve been doing over at the department. A couple of questions here on Critical Minerals specifically graphite and i want to tell you one up i favor projects and thats the geothermal and alaska. With regards to domestic graphite you know right now we are currently producing anything at graphite accounts for 95 of the ev batteries and 30 typically ev battery by weight. We have a significant graphite deposit and in fact our nations largest graphite project is in alaska in gnome. Graphite one but you know what our situation is right now and some of you are reporting 100 of her natural graphite is 70 to 80 of what the batteries are coming from china. I dont think anyone likes that situation so in light of the projections in terms of increased demand for graphite can you share with me what the administrations plan is for domestic graphite and if a project like graphite is factoring into what the administration is considering . Do you and i have had conversations and id like some kind of an update. Im not aware of graphite one applications whether theres a specific application maybe we can have a conversation about that but i do know this. What you all put into motion with the bipartisan infrastructure law and the investments in Critical Minerals especially for Battery Supply chain is having a huge impact across the country. It will continue to do so so all of the elements whether its graphite or lithium or anode all of the companies doing that kind of work across the world are now looking to come to the United States and the ones who are here are looking to expand. Thats exactly what we wanted to see is that full supply chain in the u. S. Youve got 48c and 45x and the Loan Program Office and the vans Vehicle Technology Vehicle Program 5 billion in 5 billion, 6 billion to the battery grants that were authorized by the act. Theres so much happening now all efforts toward happening before. It is exciting and it is good news and that was the promise we were going to see what we had hoped for and that was why i expressed my disappointment there was a duo e. Loan guarantee for Processing Plant in louisiana. Thats all good but they are going to be importing graphite for mozambique which doesnt make any sense to me and thats why in a letter to you and secretary austin high questioned , you have a country that has lakers labor stripes labor strikes, all the bad things were trying to get away from and so i hope we would agree that being able to source not justice process. Too sourced domestically is where we want to get into the chairmans point about bringing this all back home if the project is going to be directly or indirectly supplemented by u. S. Taxpayer dollars are dont want to see that go to mozambique. Id much rather see that coming to this country. Again youve got an extraordinary deposit their and graphite. They have submitted their application. We were told the first round didnt make it so we can have a follow on with that i would love to do that. We can help update you and maybe your team can provide you as well. I want to take a couple of seconds here to give an update on the geothermal project and alaska. A pretty exciting update. One of the largest Seafood Producers out there has given me an update on their own sustainability plan and how they view Renewable Power generation is absolutely critical to shifting their industrys dependence on fossil fuels and diesel basically to sustainable Renewable Energy, uplifting the opportunities for folks in alaska. Really being able to demonstrate we have a truly sustainable fishery. You are aware of it but i will tell you that the support from trident now in the 15 megawatts of electricity in their single processing facility required is really significant red eye was i was walking over to this committee have visited with the head of the alaskan authority who is giving me further updates on the state setting up a financial corporations to conduct the Due Diligence analysis so theres a lot coming on. We want to make sure that you understand and you have a great guy and they work with him all the time but how important this particular project is to the region and the eventual decarbonization of the industry. It will be transformative so everything you can do to lean and in your capacity as secretary i would hope you would get that consideration. Very exciting. It is very exciting. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you mr. Chairman. Senator granholm the electric power governor or secretary. My sincerest apology. The electric Power Industry is undergoing a significant transition driven by changes in technology and economics. This transition has seen the retirement of many coalfired power plants throughout the nation. In northeastern arizona the coronado generating station for corners generating station in springerville generating station are scheduled to close in the next 10 years with some beginning to operate seasonally as early as 2025. The towns where these coalfired plants are located rely on the jobs and taxes that these plants generate. If not done correctly the closing of these plants can be disastrous for these communities. Currently the facing of a coal plant is happening at a faster pace than new jobs are being created. The transition time for the closing of these coal plants needs to be in step with the creation of new jobs in order to give these communities the transition from this industry so madam secretary has your office been working to ensure that these communities are supported during this transition and what steps are being taken to increase targeted investments in communities who have relied on the coal industry. Thank you so much. This issue of a transition was high and congress mind when you pass the Inflation Reduction Act so thank you for giving us all the resources to be able to help committees make those transitions. You are aware that the department of energy through metal as senator manchin was noting has a workgroup on powerplay committees which is focused on the strategy to help do this but i will say the upper structure law gives 750 Million Manufacturing grants to coal committees, 500 million clean Energy Demonstrations on current and former mind lands and 11 million for the department of interior for Land Reclamation in the mine lands. Theres more money for wells and will thing etc. And then of course the incentives on top of that which are stackable for a lowering clean to those mine lands and if you consider the base manufacturing credit of 30 and if you locate in an Energy Community and if its a community 20 now you are talking about a 50 credit to lower investments in those communities. It makes the job portion of the transition a much easier sell in working with those communities to make that happen. I know you obviously have the Navajo Nation as part of your constituency. Working with them to help access some of these funds tend to put a plan together to lure the right kind of Energy Manufacturing opportunity is all part of the strategy that we are working on thats why we created an office of Energy Program to be on the ground in power plant communities because these solutions are critical. Theres a grant from the novel foundation how nation 1. 2 million grant on the battery and storage grid. Its important we get this time correct. So we dont have hundreds if not thousands of folks ive worked for an extended period of time. Yes and i would say theres additional grant money for tribes. Clean energy untitled lands for 50 million transitioning colleges and universities to clean energy. All of it is a recognition by congress that tribes and Coal Communities need some extra help and Technical Assistance as well as planning is all critical and thats part of the service we are providing to the community. Thank you madam secretary and in my remaining 20 seconds am going to submit this question for the record. Has to do with Oil Companies still operating in russia. Specifically barko has oilfields in russia even after press release a year ago that was examining some alternative with the potential to further curtail their activities. It was announced it would immediately suspend Investment Technology deployment to their russian operations. Instead they helped russia distribute 9000 drop notices to russian employees to fuel putins mobilization efforts. I sent a letter to you and to the treasury secretary about this to evaluate oil Company Still operating in russia and have not received any information on this. I know im over my time. If you could just look into this the department of energys investigation into Oil Companies still operating in russia and if you could please have somebody get back to my office. Thank you. Senator king. Im sorry. One more democrat discriminating against the republican. I snuck in. You sure did. Madam secretary thank you for being here. Madam secretary and we spoke with deputy secretary some time ago the issue of the definition of Clean Hydrogen for the dod d. O. E. Has proposed juror is very specific bipartisan infrastructure buildup that should be about at the point of production and yet the department of energy committed a lifecycle that goes against congresss explicit direction so can you comment on how you have the latitude to go there . The definition i know is about full emissions and so the question about whether its point or lifecycle i know has been significantly worked within the apartment. Maybe it would be helpful for us to sit down at the head of our joint strategy team. That would be great. My office helped draft that and we were very particular and allow particularly states the way that we wanted to particularly fit so as we think about the matters you see where im going. So let us particularly sit down and figure that out. Also in the ira lets see here, earlier senator manchin asked you about a definition you provided for bennie manufacturing process. The d. O. E. Decided to change the definition in the ira and effectively undercut domestic producers directly affecting projects such as the project in louisiana. Again it seems like they are changing definitions that were swiftly defined by congress. Is there Something Else we should meet upon . We certainly came but the definition of how the d. O. E. Is recommended to treasury was directly from the bipartisan infrastructure law which have a definition for processing. They did want to go back and redo what congress had just passed so the use is the same definition. Am i misinform because its my understanding its a rule that d. O. E. The definition of deal we put out was explicitly stated. So i think what senator manchin was referring to there was a grant given in battery grants to companies under manufacturing and thats the provision. They would have qualified as being a manufacture if you let them where they were but we didnt redo the definition. Going on the office of clean Energy Demonstration demonstrations oppose that. Its supposed to help establish projects projects. Their working deadlines all over the place, there really is. Initially the infrastructure bill changed again. The budget wants more funding to go after projects not authorized in the energy after they have a structure built so if youre not accomplishing the tasks set before you buy law and you want more responsibility and more money that just seems, it doesnt seem to be consistent. They have been working incredibly hard to get all of these programs in the funding for them now. Im not sure which ones, the deadlines were missed. They are going to be a center of excellence in the department on largescale demonstration projects which is something the department of energy hasnt done. These are largescale projects. Big, big responsibility which begs the question why they want additional responsibilities. What we want to have them do is make sure they have the field test is wolesi ability on a longterm basis advise other arms of the department for the project to be the center of excellence. We are really proud of what they are doing. And the last question just because im out time. Understand the department met with lng exporters about a clean standards to measure methane emissions. Can you tell us about the conversation and the major themes discussed in the next steps and what they are looking for in terms of cleanliness . Im happy to. Its important that when we do exports particularly of lng but also the assets inside the United States that we buttoned down our methane and i think its a to have methane vented. So the question is how do you do that in a way that certifies that this is and they have taken care of that methane emission. For example and entity thats trusted by all to be able to help certify that and those are the kinds of discussions we are having. Its still in the formative stage and were happy to talk with you about input that we are meeting with industry to make sure we get it right. I look forward to that and i would like to be engaged. Thank you. Madam secretary beverly want to correct this. Forget about the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Just forget about it because this is what we passed. This is a deal and this is what you advised referring back to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It had nothing to do this is the ira tells you exactly what youre Manufacturing Base will be in what its based on. Thats all im saying. Follow the law. We have no intentions of it was very clear this was the law. This is what manufacturing is. I think theres a difference in opinion by the lawyers on what the actual definition is. Who is paying the lawyers . [laughter] im so sorry. Im so upset about this because they are doing everything they can to bust the budget when we promised the American People what that bill would cost and would cost and thats what im upset about and the games we played for many years as we have had Debt Financing because we have run on the money but we still continue to do it. That is what has this country up. I determined to stop that. And this was the bill. Okay thats enough of that. Senator king its your turn. Are you sure . Idaho. Take it and run with a brother. I need help. I want to get to my question madam secretary and by the way i was told to ask a senator who is a former governor which job they like better if they say senator you know they will lie to about other things. And you can attest to that. Absolutely. There was aloud discussion about the fossil fuel energy and i i dont begin no one can deny thats occurring. What hasnt been discussed is why and what is at stake. Im going to submit for the record a chart that shows 15,000 years ago which is not a million years ago. 15,000 years ago the sea level was 350 feet lower than it is today. Why is that . Because all the water was locked up in the glaciers. The glaciers melted and sea levels rose 30 to 50 feet. In the last 8000 years its been constant in 8000 years happens to be recorded in history so we think the ocean it is always going to be what it is but there is a period around 14 or 15,000 years ago were sea levels rose a foot a decade and thats the possibility we are in now. There is 20 feet of the rising greenland which is melting at record rates in 212 feet of Sea Level Rise in the antarctica and if some of those glaciers fall into the ocean we could see significant Sea Level Rise almost overnight. Its a reasonable projection that we could see six to eight feet of Sea Level Rise between now and the end of this century. If that happens people are going to look back and say they were arguing about disruptions to the fossil fuel industry . The catastrophic effect of that on Coastal Resources around the world is immeasurable. I just want it to be put on the record why we are trying to do this but its not because we dont like fossil fuels. We like the planet and we like miami and new york and San Francisco are the only motivation i can consider considers any one of our members wants wyoming to become a coastal state other than that West Virginia would be a coast anyway. Lets go back to the questions. Permitting reform. If we are going to achieve a Green Energy Future we had to do permitting reform. You agree . 100 . Bill mckibben one of the leading environmentalists on this issue released an amazing article called yes, in our backyard where he basically says we have got to stop saying no and that means transmission and lithium lines. You cant love the tvs and hate lithium or we have got to find alternative technologies but i hope you agree that this is something in order to implement the Inflation Reduction Act that got to add permitting reform. We cant wait 10 years to permit a pumped storage facility. Absolutely. Its ridiculous that we Just Announced the final permit on the transwest transmission line after 17 years . Its unacceptable. I hope you all come together. We are working with the chairman and others on just that and it isnt a matter of undercutting environmental protections. Matter of facilitating environmental protections. Thats the point that has to get through to people. Now having said that we mentioned reconduct during. There are technologies that we can get a lot more out of the grid without doing entirely new supplies would you agree that . Yes i would but i hope the department would encourage and support those grid enhancing technologies. I hope, it seems to me thats an Important Role this department can play. It is and youve given us resources to the bipartisan for structural oddity that that further would be welcome. The final piece of this whole process is storage. The real ability to get to a renewable Energy Future depends upon storage excess of the intermittency of wind and solar so we had to have storage in the significant increase in those renewable resources. I consider one of the most important parts of your mandate supporting and encouraging the development of alternative storage whether its iron i am nickel cobalt refinements to lithium ion pumped storage whatever it is to think there is no higher priority for your department and to develop alternatives, costa fellas costeffective alternatives. Do you agree . I do. Thank you secretary. Now we have senator hydesmith. Thank you secretary granholm for your willingness to be here and appear before the committee. Id like to make a clarification and distribution transformers and the new Energy Efficiency standards that d. O. E. Issued last december. Ive heard from all of my local Power Companies in mississippi. They are ringing me upandup are the key findings from the tiger team about Serious Problems with the supplychain shortages in the regions electric infrastructure. Including the long lead times of two to four years and more. In order to be here at the department most recent conservation alternatives are expensive expensive and limited type of steel which hassan will continue to worsen the supply chain. It seems to me the white house in your department to put the cart before the horse with this new efficiency standards versus beating current demand supporting positive investments in the electric grid in providing Critical Services to our citizens. Coming off of the supply chain to compound this problem is your department stated its in response to a letter on this issue modifying existing production facilities to meet certain standards as costly and burdensome so why didnt the department give more serious consideration to the costs and burdens that would place on manufactures before rolling out the standards which has resulted led to rising prices long relief time and now a critical shortage. Just to clarify the proposed standards we just completed the Comment Period so we are evaluating all the comments from the utilities so that expressed concerns about it. We completely agree theres a huge series of challenges for both manufacturing as well as being able to access the workforce in the supplychain. Fuel is a big problem and current transfer reeses is drained fuel. Do you think maybe it will not go into effect when you thought it would and do you think this may go away . No, think its important to continue to move towards efficiency that we are having conversations with industry. I will just say that. It seems clear to me that d. O. E. Are a mandate distribution transformers and we manufactured it is incredibly high efficiency standard and you remain determined to enforce these deficiencies in the serious burden that they bring to the National Electric manufactures association calculates the standards would only increase efficiency at 0. 02 so i just want you to consider and if you can answer this how is a worsening shortage will be the only statement of the savings if you go forward with this . Theres a disagreement on how much more efficient they are. Again its proposed standards and the as with all proposed efficiency standards versus. Mcadoo and an outreach and input from industry. We would like to see both types of steel be available. We would love for the defense production act was applied more funding to be able to incentivize manufactures to open up more manufacturing processes. We have 75 million in the defense production act to get new factories up so we have like to see more of that in addition to having both times the fuel being available. Would these discussions in your evaluation of this now do you think it could be postponed for up to two years and do you think the standards may not go into effect . As they say we are in discussion and no final decision has been mentioned. But theres a possibility you could delay this . Lots of things are possible. Thanks for not answering. Yes or no is any concern the current transformer shortage will only get worse if the demand continues to go up . We are certainly concerned about the supply transformers which is why we really want to incentivize more manufacturing. How about the investment in transformer productions on line, yes or no are there concerns for d. O. E. There . We want to keep them on line for sure and we want to add more. Madam secretary do believe these new standards can be successfully implemented by 2027 . I do think they could be that we are as they say in the discussion period those who are affected we want to make sure we are responsive. Can you commit to working with me and my staff to get to a point where no new standards are required and it will alleviate supply chain issues for these transformers . I certainly cant commit to working with senior staff. Thank you for the amount of time. Senator cortez masto. Thank you. Secretary welcome. You know what my first question is going to be. I appreciate both of you expressing your commitment to that approach so thank you very much. Can i ask you what action is the Department Taking to move the nation toward a consentbased repository process and how would that reflect in the fiscal year 24 budget . We have actually put out a request for proposals for communities that might be interested in doing initial planning. We had as you recall back in the fall requests for information seeing what kind of interest is out there and then we will award it to communities that are least looking at planning in the next couple of months. After they have time to be able to do that we welcome back in 2024 and ask i will just say we will hone in on if you and asked for resources to compensate communities that have raised their hands in some way, shape or form. They had to do the work and determined what that looks like. Are using an initial interest . Yes. Let me move on to the solar issue coming before us with the solar sierra a. One of the goals of this Department Budget request is to ensure we meet our chronicles the critical factor to meeting those goals is ensuring a continued buildout for solar and last year the department announced an anticircumvention and you know this will put this action is extremely important as the u. S. Currently has the domestic capacity to manufacture only about one third of total domestic demand and then the threat of terror 75 is for project experience cancellations or delays including my state which is the number one seller economy. Its union jobs will be put on hold or have been put on hold so can you speak to the importance of solar energy to combat Climate Change and houses reflected in the fiscal year 24 budget request . First i think its really important to recognize as you have when needed transition period to build up that solar supplied in the United States. It is happening thanks again to the Inflation Reduction Act. There has been in the recent past 50 new solar factories or supply chain to announce that they are coming to the United States on top of the 150 Battery Companies that have announced that they are coming so the solar supplychain is really starting to ramp up but you had to make sure the vectors cross at the right moment and we are still in the early sight of that. We dont want to slow our ability to be able to deploy Solar Technology. Thats why the thoughtful way that Congress Passed this Inflation Reduction Act incentivize all of this and a pause on the tariffs is really important 12 separate over that being said the budget obviously also in nextgeneration Solar Technology through our Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy Research Based efforts as well as the labs so i recreate important as well as investment in the next generation. Thank you and let me just say nevada is the beneficiary of what we are doing with the future around renewables and the innovation economy per the law that we have passed we have created jobs and good for our economy and good for jobs and addresses the climate concerns that we have so i just had to make sure people understand not only is not that of the beneficiary of all the work we have done here and we want to continue but some of my colleagues may not have supported this legislation as we have introduced. They are seeing jobs being created in december meant. This is about how we move this country forward and bring everybody along with us. There is no partisanship so for me i thank you. You are on the right track moving forward here. Will we have questions about implementation . The about implementation . Accorsi will about implementation . The cordial but at the end of the day we are on the right side of history with this project moving forward. The number one issue that i talked to my companies of all the legislation is passed which one benefits them the most is the Inflation Reduction Act. We need a ramp to get there because we had to make sure we build out our capacity as a lot is happening here but theres the opportunity to make it work if we all move in the same direction so thank you. Id like to ask unanimous consent to without objection. Senator hawley. Madam secretary last fall the parents and students and Elementary School in the greater st. Louis area of the haselwood School District learned that their schools potentially were contented by radioactive dating back to the Manhattan Project thats verified by independent third parties testing practices in october of last year in school was shut down and the kids were sent home. For months they were in school at all and it was distancelearning which one person at a School Board Meeting set is not learning at all. Didnt they were bused to other School Districts and this is currently happening now. The school is still close and the kids have been given no permit reassignments and they are being bused all these different districts and no cleanup of the site whatsoever. The parents in and the school board have repeatedly asked fors government and cleanup. They have written to the department of energy and they have written to the army corps of engineers. I have written to be singed agencies and never into the present multiple times asking for government response to this government contamination. I asked your deputy secretary about this and their brain he had no answers and no answers and i asked the assistant secretary last month and she had no answer so i will ask you. On january 23 the school board wrote to your department and requested a site eligibility evaluation of all School District properties. Have you responded to them . Yes, we did. And what did you say . We totally and her stand the significance of the parents concerned here. Obviously we dont want any schoolchildren to be going to school where there may be as you are probably aware and i think we said in a letter to them in 1997 congress transferred the administration execution of formerly sites to the u. S. Army corps and thats my understanding. They have been doing testing and they are the ones who had the responsibility in the management of the activities. Its only when the site has been totally cleaned up and finished it that comes over to our environmental management. The army corps of engineers were aware of done the opposite. They have directed the School District to your agenc wrote ton january 23. The army corps said they needed additional authorization from the department of energy which is why they wrote to you. That is what they told me as well. They cant do any cleanup without the authorization and they have pointed us to you. This is what i said to your deputy secretary and bever and this is what i said last month. I have not gotten any responses from anybody, not from your department, not from the, nobody. Im sure you can appreciate the deep frustration doesnt quite do it. These kids are potentially exposed to radioactive in their school. They found dust particles in the school itself and now they cant go to school and for months now they have gotten the complete runaround from this administration. The army corps said is the army corpss fault. Nobody will do anything so what are you going to do . Im going to follow up. It was my understanding that they understood it was in their jurisdiction and if youre telling me Something Different i will followup. What are you going to do for the kids . You could designate the school under the memorandum of understanding you could designate the school as a School District. We do that . Let me go back and check. Its my understanding is not under our jurisdiction. Let me follow up. It is april and this happened in october. The school is still closed or the parents dont have any answers. Listen i am dead serious about this until we get answers for these kids and until we get that School Reopen a cleaned up i will send every nominee to your department and every piece of legislation i will send to the Army Corporate they have got the run around for years. This radio active activities in the creek water that runs by the school for this committee has gotten the runaround for years and just because its a community of working people and doesnt have big class donors who give big money to politicians doesnt mean they can be ignored. They have been ignored for literally decades and now theyve been ignored for months. I will stand in the way of anything anything i have two until we get a solution and results. You come back to me soon as you can but until we get the result im going to stand in the way. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you very much senator. Senator hickenlooper. Thank you mr. Chair. Thank you secretary for your time and for your public service. Not just in this role that so many roles. The bipartisan infrastructure bill makes one and only one mention of stranded assets over large investments. It does that in the charging and fueling infrastructure cfi a 2. 5 billion grant program. A big Reason Congress one of its way to warn about assets in this instance is because ev chargers are paid to their local utility. To fix his Congress Pass the recharge act which requires states to reevaluate rates that can bring ev chargers and the doa and d. O. T. Joined the office of energy and transportation and notes a funding opportunity for the program but it doesnt mention local electric rates at all. Can you commit to taking a look at how the joint office can better integrate this vital factor into the cfi grant . Its my understanding the joint office did in fact require working with you to lisa let me follow up with you and look into this because i think you are spot on. Great. And i want to quickly point out and i understand the proposed standards are still being negotiated but in colorado are world Electrical Generators are so concerned about the supply chain. The Power Administration headquartered in lakewood colorado known as the transmission Infrastructure Program gip. Developing new transmission projects another grid upgrades. It was set up in the american recovering reinvestment act in 2009. Only given out three loans in over a decade and a half and it all amounts to an amount much smaller than the Loan Authority itself. America and we have seen mr. Paisley today america is waking up to the need for more and better electric transmission to balance the whole cost for repairs but to maintain a reliable grid. What it is deal is planned for its call it putting new life into it and using these dollars to make sure we are moving on this critical transmission grid project . Syndicates important tool in the toolbox to get more transmission on line and working perhaps with you as well into making that case and configuring it and to say its a top priority. Great. We will be an active partner in that. Two years ago colorado enacted Bipartisan Legislation requiring the transition utilities to join an organized wholesale market by 2030. This has the potential to promote reliability but also efficiency and more competition into the market which improves quality and lower costs for coloradans. Deal is budget request funding for the wholesale electricity market grants program. How is this Program Going to help colorado appalacian states explore their options with respect to wholesale electric markets and consumers . I think embedded in your question is the importance to organize regionally so more people can share more power and effective way and i know with these discussions have been happening. We know its important for regions to decide themselves how they want to organize. If they chose to move into Regional Transmission Organization we would beat eager to be of assistance. As is often the case with government the question is carrots and we want to promote more carrots. I will hold this one off i will throw it out there and then you can answer. I have four questions and i dont think ive done that before. The oecd is charged with technologies of scales and commercialization of hydrogen hub award which colorado and other states are applying for. Some of the word how his office prepared to review award overseas of these large projects in a timely and costeffective way . To say youre aware on april 7 the final admissions were made by the ones who were encouraged to apply for the second round for the selections. There is a peer review process that happens with expertise inside the department that something im involved in and technical experts to ensure viability of these hubs as well as with the supply chain agreements are and what it looks like on the ground for the community all of that. Those factors are all a guy waited. There will be a series of discussions for these hubs to get clarification on their proposals for my expectation is that by the fall the decisions will be made and the hubs will be selected. Thank you. The demand side of hydrogen thats all in the digestive tract. Again thank you for your service and i yield back mr. Chair. Thank you senator youre out in north dakota several years ago visiting the north Dakota Research center. One of the things one of the things that you observed was our Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership to co2 carbon reduction are you committed to continue funding for the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership which are so important in terms of capturing and sequestering co2 . Yes especially now that we have this additional funding to do the sequestration and all sorts of carbon mitigation strategies. Thank you and we need your help is regional partnerships. I appreciate that. I was just in south korea and taiwan this past week and as you know we need a course theres a Strong Alliance with celebrating 70 years of that. Allies and partners is how they refer to the net treaty alliance. We need to do more to contingent strengthened them in their defense and we need to do more to strengthen taiwans defense is particularly with what prc the china prc is doing right now in terms of their aggressive behavior in the taiwan strait. Also as part of that we need to do more to work with taiwan in an economic standpoint and a Free Trade Agreement is in order but also helping them sustain themselves one of which is energy. They are an island that need to bring in natural and they fund much of their energy needs with natural. Are you willing to commit to help us with lng facilities so we cannot only help partners like taiwan but also helped our allies that are trying to displace National Russian as well. What can we do to help with lng is facilities and work with our allies . You are probably aware we have been permitting lng facilities and in fact we are at record levels of export of lng which is about 12 billion cubic feet per day and then theres authorization now to be able to for those that may be starting construction up to 20 billion cubic feet and for those who are not under construction there is still permission or permitted another 49 total so they authorization is there to be able to help our allies did we also want to work on mitigation strategies and there to mitigation strategies associated with those exports. Who want us all to have a supplier that will have low footprint. You would agree our Environmental Standards are the best and this is an important way to help our allies. With the work twothirds of our exports went to the eu last year. We can do a better job of buttoning down methane and buttoning down carbon emissions. The last question i have for you is with regard to gasoline prices. When it administrations came in to office gasoline prices were 2. 50 or less nl are 3. 50 a gallon and more so its up over a dollar a gallon and we are getting into the dry season. What can we do to reduce the price and as you know i believe that means more supply in terms of production but also refining capacity. We need to do this in our hardworking citizens are facing inflation. This Energy Component and gasoline prices a big part of it and what can we do to bring it down . We are all very concerned about that. One of the actions we took last year in the wake of the war in the supply constraint was released from a strategic Petroleum Reserve. Prices fell at that point. Oil traded on the Global Market goes back to production thats a problem. We want to encourage Domestic Production. In fact this year we will be a record level of Domestic Production in the United States. I appreciate your last comment about more supply and keeping prices down. I would be remiss if i didnt also say we accelerate clean as well. I appreciate your willingness and recognition that we need more supply. Were subject to the Global Market as well. Thank you secretary. Appreciate it. Senator hirono. Thank you. Madam secretary speaking of gasoline so why has the secondmost expensive in a country averaging 4. 79 a gallon. Prices have come down since the start of the war in ukraine. High fuel prices are burden for many families. The ira and the jobs that gave the d. O. T. And the u. S. Treasury lot of tools to support domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries. What progress are you seeing it d. O. E. Driving down the cost for electric vehicles so families can afford these vehicles for their families . Thank you for that question because you are aware because you and the committee of the research and development for battery has driven down the price 80 over the past decade and we want to continue to see that kostro down with his request Additional Research and development in this space. We also recognize electric vehicles on average are more expensive however there are models that manufacturers are putting out now that bring the price down and when you add on top of it for working people the 7500dollar tax credit now the shipping bolts which i drive could be financed at 19,000 which is more affordable than some of the higher end cars. The bottom line is you will see more and more auto manufacturers make more affordable vehicles and electric vehicles and hawaii also got permission or approval for its plan to build charging stations across the island. People felt confident about being able to charge up and it is so much cheaper to operate an electric vehicle that an internal combustion engine. One of the Biggest Barriers to more people buying electric vehicles is the cost and thats why the bill shows his support for Critical Research in all aspects of electric vehicles for charging station. The infrastructure bill and the ira are historic investments in our countrys infrastructure. Our scientific knowledge in building a clean Energy Economy. The bills are way for a country to move away from the crisis of the Global Oil Market and Lower Energy Costs over the long term. How is the d. O. E. Getting the word out for people and local committees so that they are able to make use of these incentives congress has provided to lower their costs . We are working with the state energy to help us and working with for a sample of 30 tax credit with industry to make sure they are promoting that is part of their sales opportunity as well. We will be doing rebates for appliances etc. Those have not come out yet. Again we are in the process of having these discussions with the manufactures and retailers about how to, at the pointofsale, lower the cost are people so they can install this equipment. Industry partnerships and Energy Departments is how we are getting the word out. Its wanting to get the word out but its another to make sure the procedures and whats required for people to qualify for those rebates that those are easily understandable and not just pages of stuff that they have the sellout in order to access it. Are you also looking at that . On our web site we have a simplified version and another version is coming thats more accessible. One of the other things that President Biden has said he wanted to make sure that people in disadvantaged communities have the benefits from the Job Opportunities to reduce pollution from the transition to clean energy. How does our budget proposal. Training for Clean Energy Workforce and access to clean energy in broome and low income committed these . A couple of points on this. For one the hydrogen hubs. Evaluation of the proposal is based on the Community Benefit plan and how can we make sure workforce issues are addressed whether its local Community Colleges a strategy for a pipeline in the schools and to place these strategies associated and they are evaluating as tax credits are extra bump if they are in disadvantaged communities. The president issued wanted to make sure all aspects of these Clean Energy Investment are included including the workforce. Also we are working with the department of labor and the department of education for curriculum and training on these advanced technologies. The Battery Workforce Initiative in partnership with the aflcio to make sure we are doing better retraining and a set of skills across the country so having curricula that matches local training and apprenticeships are all part of a holistic strategy the industrial strategy that the president has proposed. Thank you and they know you are very candid person so i commend you for your energy and the commitment that you bring to what you are doing. Thank you senator could secretary i have one followup question and i asked the question about the company tied to the Chinese Communist party. I mentioned there was a 200 milliondollar award from the department preview had said this morning it was not an award. Your own web site does say its an award and at the words 2. 8 billion to 20 companies that manufacture batteries on your web site and it goes on to say the companies will receive a combined 2. 8 billion the web site lists it as one of the 20 companies will precede the money so is the web site wrong or is the web site misleading the public or are you trying to mislead the committee here today . All decisions are made when we get a letter that says this is the boilerplate we have. All that preceded this this letter which notified them of their selection. It does not authorize the applicants with the performance of the project. D. O. E. Makes no commitment to issue an award and has no financial obligation with the issuance letter. Applicants do not receive an award until award negotiations are complete and the contracting officer executes the Funding Agreement that only an award document obligates d. O. E. To support a project. Its an initial step and in this case all of them have undergone positional vetting and are undergoing batting to make sure we are protecting taxpayer dollars. So its your web site is misleading the public and not you . Senator hawley. I want to go back for a moment. Ive introduced legislation that would direct the army corps to cleanup the school that wouldd p schools that are contaminated by project contamination but would he support that . I would. Good, but to try to pass it next week so i appreciate that. On different subject briefly let me ask about the disturbing ethics report relate to your department from wall street journal. Efforts worn one third of the Energy Departments senior officials owned stock religious agencies work for more than 130 officials and the Energy Department collectively reported about 2700 trade of shares Bonding Companies that officers labeled as related to the agencys work. Do you own official stocks of . No, they are mutual funds. The report said youve violated disclosure laws nine times for does that sound accurate . I did fail to file a report in my first year that i thought was supposed to be filed at the end of the year and had to be filed three months earlier so its late. You dont own any individual stock now. It was the sale of what i had and not owning individual stocks. My question to you then is to you think other senior members of your department or any department in the executive branch is involved and why should we disband that . I think its easier when you dont own individual stocks however you have Disclosure Rules and very rigorous ethics agencies inside the department of energy. If somebody owns an individual stock and they nsa and that stock relates to something in the its not considered an ethics violation. What do you say about the report that 130 officials in the department traded 2700 shares of stock . All of that has been vetted because they are trading and anything where they have influence. The report is these are companies for instance 28 officials owned stock in exxon and chevron and 15 hold stock in they may not be doing any related to fossil fuels. It may just be part of their portfolio but it doesnt involve her influence in any way our actions. It doesnt influence the actions . Why did you sell yours . I sounded ethics agreement with the present of the United States. Presumably because he was rightly worried that individual stocks would influence your decision, dont you think . Is a difference if youre the head of the department and when you are one part of an agency and you trade stocks we have 100,000 people in the department. They are straight about the country. If somebody in mnsa buys stock at exxon it doesnt involve their particular area of influence and thats the important part that you are objecting to. I dont understand your position figure position as you are concerned about 130 officials and Energy Department collectively trading 2700 shares of stock including chevron and others . I would be concerned if our office was concerned that they have reviewed all of the investment and all of these disclosure agreements and people who are doing individual stock trading are not involved in anything related to the stock. I think i have a solution which is the just. Lets ban it for officials and members of congress. I would not object to that. I think youll be happy to know madam secretary we are grateful for your being here. Members can submit additional questions for the record. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]