Congressmen say DOE official may have violated ethics pledge
- July 14, 2021
Jeremy Dillon, E&E News
A trio of Republicans said the acting head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy potentially violated her ethics pledge through the promotion of energy storage technology.
The allegations from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), ranking member on the the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Environment, against acting Assistant Secretary for EERE Kelly Speakes-Backman come as the department’s leadership seeks to follow through on its promise to find technological solutions to decarbonize the grid.
Norman’s letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm alleges that Speakes-Backman is improperly using her leadership position to advocate for policies that advance energy storage in line with her previous job as CEO of the Energy Storage Association, the D.C.-based group representing the technologies.