Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images
Jennifer Granholm has a message for global energy companies: Now's the time to invest in the U.S.
Why it matters: As Energy secretary, Granholm — who just joined DGA Group as a senior counselor — oversaw the dramatic expansion of DOE programs that the Trump administration is targeting for sweeping cuts and office closures.
- But President Trump's broader energy-dominance agenda can still flourish as long as the IRA's energy tax credits are kept largely intact, Granholm told Axios.
What she's saying: "What I am telling people is that, if these tax credits for manufacturing in the United States stay, and the 10% tariff stays, there is not a better time to locate in the United States if you are looking to do a big [capital expenditure] project," Granholm said.
- New development could be easier, she said, if this Congress addresses permitting legislation. And she noted the Trump administration's openness to using public lands for energy projects.
- She's bullish the administration will continue support for advanced nuclear, enhanced geothermal, and minerals projects that all have gotten bipartisan backing.
Federal incentives spurred hundreds of U.S. factories to announce plans to build or expand, she said — but many still haven't had ribbon-cuttings.
- That means the Trump administration should want to preserve the tax credits because it "can take credit for all of those," she said.
The big picture: Her new counseling role harks back to her job as secretary. It sent her crisscrossing the country to cheer the agency's funding as a win for economic development and jobs.
- Reflecting on last November's Republican trifecta, Granholm said other election-cycle issues crowded out the IRA and IIJA programs, while climate change was "not as high on people's list as how much they're making."
Between the lines: Biden officials like Granholm had reasoned that the bulk of DOE money was safe from Republican cuts because it flowed to red states and congressional districts.
- Today, "I don't have confidence that they're fully safe," Granholm said.
- Republican appropriators on the Hill are open to considering DOGE cuts in the upcoming budget process.
Recent DOE loan disbursements and funding for nuclear fuel supply contracts, however, give her hope.
- Before she left the agency, Granholm had lunch with her successor, Chris Wright, and came away "very hopeful that there would be continuity in many areas."
- "It's a question of who's actually doing the big overall policy and what the administration is focused on," she said.
The bottom line: The appeal to move manufacturing back home has special resonance to Granholm as the Trump White House pursues a full-scale trade war.
- "Tariffs, obviously, are a tool," Granholm said. "But so are carrots."
