Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm Spends Final Days in Office Sending Billions to Home State, Defying Inspector General
20th January 2025
The Department of Energy, in one of its final actions under President Joe Biden, earmarked billions of dollars in green energy loans to utility companies based in Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s home state of Michigan—defying the agency’s inspector general, who called on the Biden administration to suspend the loan program amid conflict-of-interest concerns.
Some of Granholm’s largest campaign benefactors during her Michigan gubernatorial campaign were among the companies receiving the hefty last-minute loans.
The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced Thursday that it awarded a staggering $22.9 billion in loan guarantees for utility companies to develop green energy projects across 12 states. More than $14 billion of that total was awarded to DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, the two companies with ties to Granholm, solely for projects in Michigan.
In addition, on Friday afternoon, the office announced a $1.3 billion loan for Michigan Potash Company to help fund a sustainable fertilizer plant in Osceola County, Michigan.
DTE Energy’s political action committee contributed more than $34,000 to Granholm’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, according to state records. Then-DTE Energy CEO Stephen Ewing, whom Granholm appointed to serve on the state’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation Executive Committee, personally donated another $3,400 to Granholm’s campaign in 2004.