To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s opening remarks, please click here.

To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s questioning, please click here.

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm testified before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about the Administration’s budget request for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Fiscal Year 2022. During the hearing, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Committee, stressed the importance of full funding for his comprehensive Energy Act of 2020.

Chairman Manchin questioned Secretary Granholm on what needs to be done to ensure America plays a leading role in deploying carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies across the globe.

“It’s encouraging to see the President’s budget beef up spending by 61% for CCUS. According to the International Energy Agency, 90% of the emissions growth will come from emerging countries, like those in Asia. Those countries that are dispersing more only account for 20% of the clean energy investment, so it’s up to us. If the United States does not lead in CCUS technology, these countries will not pick up the slack. So I would ask how would you see us playing that leading role so others can follow?” Chairman Manchin asked.

“Yes, 1000% we need to be exporting technologies that can ensure a decarbonized future around the world and we need to deploy them here. And this is why the American Jobs Plan has such a big commitment on demonstration projects as you and I have discussed in carbon capture and hydrogen. If we can bring the costs down we can export this technology in partnership with other nations. That is absolutely what the president would like to see happen and is what our international team is working on,” Secretary Granholm said.

Chairman Manchin also asked about funding for the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. Secretary Granholm highlighted the Administration’s focus on reinvesting in and supporting communities that have lost traditional energy jobs.

“The budget request also helps DOE build the energy economy back better in a way that lifts up communities who have not yet seen a future for themselves in the energy transition and those who have just been left behind for far too long. DOE programs can support fossil fuel workers translating their skills to new positions in various areas, from extracting critical minerals from coal mine sites and upgrading pipelines to reduce methane leakage to building carbon capture and hydrogen systems on existing industrial and power plant facilities; from building zero-emissions buses and upgrading the power grid to drilling for geothermal energy. Their predecessors built the U.S. economy of the 20th Century; they will power the economy of the 21st Century,” said Secretary Granholm in her written testimony.

Chairman Manchin also questioned Secretary Granholm on what resources the DOE needs to put America on a path to a clean hydrogen economy.

To read Secretary Granholm’s testimony, please click here.

To watch the hearing in full, please click here.

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