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In Texas, Granholm defends Biden climate change policies
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm clearly didn't come to Houston to apologize.
Instead, in a room full of oil industry experts still steaming from the Biden administration's decision in January to "pause" approvals of new liquefied natural gas exports, Granholm came defending their climate change initiatives and pushing the oil and gas industry to move into cleaner technologies, like geothermal.
"The oil and gas industry is incredibly well positioned to lead in geothermal," Granholm told more than 7,000 people at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston.
Geothermal energy extracts heat from below the Earth's surface, but it is cleaner than traditional fossil fuels, always available unlike solar and wind, and has a smaller surface footprint than other energy sources.
Granholm used her speech to stress that the Biden administration is bringing down key barriers to help companies shift into geothermal energy.
"All federal oil and gas leases can be converted to geothermal leases without having to go through any permitting review, " she said. "Come on, you can repurpose your permits and use your existing workforce literally today to build new geothermal projects."
Her advocacy comes just months after the Energy Institute at the University of Texas put out a new report where it called the state a "sleeping giant" in the geothermal energy sector that has mostly been developing in the western United States.
But you didn't have far to look to find critics of the Biden administration's green energy policies. Just before Granholm was set to speak in Houston, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, put out a campaign message to supporters that "anti-energy Joe" is leading an assault on U.S. energy. And in D.C., the House Oversight Committee was pushing Granholm and the White House for more details on their decision to pause the new LNG leases.
Much more about Granholm's speech from Amanda Drane on our business team.
Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's up, who's down
Up: Joe Biden.
Just two weeks after being in Brownsville, President Joe Biden is already on his way back for stops in Dallas and Houston this week. The White House said Biden is scheduled to participate in "campaign receptions." That usually means mostly fundraisers with no public events on the schedule in Texas as of now.
Down: Greg Abbott.
The Supreme Court on Monday indefinitely delayed a Texas law that would empower state authorities to arrest and deport migrants, an effort by Republican legislators to give the state immigration enforcement powers long left solely to the federal government. Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law last year saying Texas has the right to defend itself since the federal government wasn't. He had predicted the case would get to the Supreme Court.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Eagle Pass is hoping to be in the headlines this spring for reasons that have nothing to do with immigration. When the border city learned it would be the first in the United States to get the full effect of the total solar eclipse on April 8, leaders started making plans to capitalize on the spectacle, hoping to draw attention and generate an economic boost. Reporter Liz Teitz looks at how the city has worked around the immigration strain and planned a big music festival around the eclipse.
https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/eagle-pass-solar-eclipse-music-festival-border-19028578.php
What else I'm reading
Here we go again. The Washington Post is reporting that another government shutdown is looming this week if Congress and the White House can't strike a deal on a funding plan for roughly 70 percent of the federal government — including the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security as well as the IRS and Transportation Security Administration. With Biden scheduled to be in Texas on Thursday, you can bet things will get a little more intense by then if something doesn't get worked out soon.
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