Jennifer Granholm was sworn in Thursday as secretary of energy after the Senate confirmed her by a wide, bipartisan margin to lead the Department of Energy and the almost $30-billion-a-year worth of nuclear weapons and waste programs that make up more than half the agency’s budget.
“DOE’s core missions — promoting scientific discovery, maintaining the nuclear deterrent, and remediating environmental harms — have never been more important than they are in this moment,” Granholm wrote in an email DOE personnel just after her swearing-in. “That’s because together, they reflect one true mission: saving and protecting the planet. And what’s more important than that?”
Senators voted to confirm the former Michigan governor 64-35, with one Senator not voting. Of the 22 Senators who represent states with significant DOE nuclear weapons or nuclear waste-cleanup sites, eight — about one in three — voted against Granholm.
The nay votes, in alphabetical order by state, were:
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) – Paducah Site, DOE Office of Environmental Management (cleanup).
- Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) – Savannah River Site, DOE Office of Environmental Management (cleanup), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (weapons).
- Sen. Timothy Scott (R-S.C.).
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) – Oak Ridge Site, DOE Office of Environmental Management (cleanup), Y-12 National Security Complex, NNSA (weapons).
- Sen. William Hagerty (R-Tenn.).
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) – Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Texas, NNSA (weapons).
- Sen. Rafael “Ted” Cruz (R-Texas).
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) – Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project, DOE Office of Environmental Management (cleanup).
Meanwhile, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee could hold a nomination hearing for Granholm’s deputy-designate, David Turk, as soon as next week, a committee aide said Thursday in an email.
Turk worked in the Barack Obama administration’s DOE and Department of State and is currently deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency, part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
At deadline, President Joe Biden had yet to nominate anyone to lead either the NNSA or the Office of Environmental Management. It took the Donald Trump administration about a year to fill those positions, once it got its first secretary of energy confirmed.
