Granholm Energy Department gave California utilities $600M, now she’ll sit on their boards
- February 23, 2025
Kevin Killough, Just the News
Former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced on Thursday that she will be joining the boards of directors for Southern California Edison Company and its parent corporation Edison International, one of the largest utility companies in the U.S. This comes just six months after Granholm’s Department of Energy awarded $600 million to a consortium of California utilities, including Southern California Edison.
During her tenure at the DOE, Granholm was accused of a number of ethics violations, including conflicts of interest and using her official position to promote companies that she had a financial stake or relationship with. Nonetheless, despite the widespread reporting of her controversial tenure, she was never charged or disciplined for any wrongdoing.
More than a dozen public interest groups also called for Granholm’s resignation. In an August 2023 letter to Joe Biden, the groups cited her failure to report financial holdings, involvement in actions that benefited companies she was connected to, as well as other ethically questionable actions the groups argued would justify her removal from office.
Among the signatories was government watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT). The group used a Freedom of Information Act Request to obtain Graholm’s calendar. Among the previously unknown meetings discovered in the document were Graholm’s meetings between billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The DOE authorized up to $2 billion in a 50-50 cost-share program for Gates’ Terra Power Natrium reactor in Wyoming.
“Despite their flowery rhetoric about being the most ethical administration in history, the Biden administration did not live up to their promises whatsoever,” Michael Chamberlain, executive director of PPT, told Just the News.