WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm traveled to Houston, Texas, to tout the American Jobs Plan and its investments to build a clean energy economy that creates millions of good-paying jobs, saves consumers money, and reduces the health impacts of pollution.
Her first official trip outside of Washington, D.C. as Energy Secretary, Granholm visited Air Liquide’s hydrogen production facility in La Porte, Texas, and hosted a roundtable on advancing the clean energy economy with U.S. Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Al Green (TX-09), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), and Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, and industry leaders from the Houston area.
On Social Media
@SecGranholm: Had a great tour of @AirLiquideUSA here in #Houston w/ @RepFletcher — a facility that produces hydrogen, which is a form of clean energy that can power the future of our transportation sector. I have one word to describe my visit: JOBS. 1/ #AmericanJobsPlan
@SecGranholm: Truly enjoyed today’s lunch w/ @DrBobBullard, the father of the environmental justice movement. @POTUS and @ENERGY are committed to making sure those who have suffered the most are the first to benefit from our clean energy revolution. #AmericanJobsPlan
@ENERGY: The clean energy future is about opportunity, jobs, and building an equitable way forward that lifts Americans in every pocket of our country. @SecGranholm in Houston on the #AmericanJobsPlan
In the News
Houston Chronicle: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm touts clean energy jobs in Houston
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm made her first trip to Texas, and her first trip out of Washington, since she was confirmed in February, touring a hydrogen plant in La Porte on Friday morning.
Her visit comes as the Biden administration makes a final push to reach an agreement with Republican lawmakers on a massive $1.7 trillion infrastructure bill, which, as proposed, would pump billions into clean-energy projects and incentives.
She pointed to Air Liquide’s average salary of $62,000 a year as a sign that clean energy jobs can offer salaries commensurate with existing oil and gas jobs. She said the Biden administration is not seeking an end to oil-and-gas jobs to accommodate new, cleaner-energy projects.
“It shouldn’t be a binary. What we want to do is expand the pie,” Granholm said. “There are all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people in all pockets of the country for our energy future.”
ABC 13: Pushing jobs plan, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm comes to Texas warning of grid fix
ABC13 spoke with Granholm just before a roundtable discussion at Greentown Labs in midtown Houston. Granholm pointed out Texas leads the nation in wind energy and is No. 2 in solar energy and as part of her visit announced a nearly $2 million in grants to the University of Houston and Rice University to help advance Carbon Dioxide storage and sequestration.
"(Houston) powered the past and we want them to power the future. We want to expand the aperture in terms of the types of energy that Texas is offering, not just to Texas, but maybe even to the rest of the country," Granholm told ABC13. "We want to grow the pie and we want to add clean energy, and we want to be part of that energy future. We want to help the fossil fuel industry to decarbonize energy. One of the things that this American Jobs Plan does is it creates these demonstration projects in what is known as carbon capture and sequestration and hydrogen. Wouldn't it be fantastic if Texas was part of that created a demonstration project about how you can take carbon out of fossil fuels, but still use the fossil fuels? So we want to be a partner."
La secretaria de Energía de EEUU, Jennifer Granholm, visitó Houston y se reunió con líderes de la industria energética para discutir el plan de Biden para generar más empleos a través de la inversión en 15 plantas generadoras de hidrógeno. “Habrá miles de empleos relacionados con la expansion”, dijo. También aprovechó para desmentir que la iniciativa afectará los empleos e ingresos de las industrias petroleras.
Texas Standard: US Energy Secretary Says Texas Should Connect To National Grid, Embrace Greener Jobs
The blackouts caused by the winter storm in February turned energy – where it comes from and how it’s delivered – into a front-burner issue for Texans. Many in the state also wonder, and even worry, about what a federal move toward renewable sources of power could mean for a state where oil and gas have long played such a large role.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm came to Houston Friday to meet with industry leaders. She spoke with the Texas Standard about how the administration’s green energy focus would impact the state.
NBC 4: Mayor Turner joins roundtable discussion on building clean energy economy in Texas
Mayor Sylvester Turner welcomed U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm to Houston as they discussed the American Jobs Plan and its investments to build a clean energy economy.
The plan is expected to create millions of jobs, save consumers money and reduce the health impacts of pollution. Houston area representatives also shared their ideas on energy transition.
"We've got the whole delegation here as a united front on this challenge, which is, how do we make sure that people understand that this clean energy transition is about opportunity and creating jobs instead of fearing it," Granholm said…at a roundtable conversation at Greentown Labs' Houston facility [with] Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. Rep. Al Green, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia.
Reuters: Hydrogen 'a huge opportunity' to replace fossil fuels, says U.S. energy secretary
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday called hydrogen "a huge opportunity" for the oil and gas sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Granholm visited an Air Liquide facility in Texas that produces hydrogen, a clean-burning gas that environmentalists say could replace fossil fuels and help reduce global warming. The Biden administration wants the United States to advance lower-carbon fuels and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Bloomberg: LNG Makers Get Hint to Go Greener From U.S. Energy Secretary
The Biden administration, Granholm said, is looking closely at carbon capture and sequestration technology, which would take emissions from LNG plants and other facilities, move them by pipeline and then inject them underground.
“We want to be able to promote and sell clean technologies,” Granholm said following a tour at an Air Liquide SA hydrogen plant in La Porte, Texas. “That could be natural gas that has been decarbonized, or that could be natural gas where the methane flaring has been eliminated.”
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The Air Liquide plant she visited uses natural gas as a feedstock to produce hydrogen gas -- a source of cleaner energy increasingly seen as having more potential to decarbonize the transportation sector. The eventual goal is to rely more on so-called green hydrogen derived from renewable energy sources.
Granholm emphasized that she wants Texas to not only lead the way in oil and gas, but also the nation's renewable energy future. She noted that Texas already leads the nation in wind power generation, and that it trails only California in solar power.
“Clean energy takes all kinds of forms into the future, and Texas can be a leader in that,” she said.
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