Joe Biden is promoting an energy firm called Proterra at the top of this garbage heap. That would be a harmless gesture, I suppose if that was all he was doing when trying to market his infrastructure package to the entire world.
However, as you might be aware, our government is a massive criminal enterprise that turns a blind eye when corruption is the main course.
Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s energy minister, has a $5 million investment in Proterra. You may be surprised, but you’re still shaking your head at this crony capitalism.
THREAD:
SCOOP from me and @CAndersonMO in @FreeBeacon
Today, @POTUS is virtually visiting *one company* to tout his $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan: @Proterra_Inc
His @ENERGY sec, @SecGranholm owns up to $5 million in Proterra stock optionshttps://t.co/nDp4aBIGEt
(1/4)
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) April 20, 2021
President Joe Biden would promote an electric battery and vehicle maker owned by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday as part of his campaign for a $1.9 trillion infrastructure bill.
Biden’s virtual visit to Proterra, an electric battery manufacturer, comes just days after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Thomas Built Buses, a North Carolina-based school bus company that uses Proterra as its primary electric vehicle supplier. Back-to-back White House visits to Granholm-connected businesses raise the specter of impropriety and show how politicians can use policy proposals to enrich themselves. The infrastructure package proposed by Biden includes a $174 billion investment in the electric vehicle industry, as well as a Clean Buses for Kids initiative that would “electrify at least 20% of our yellow school bus fleet,” calls for the replacement of “50,000 diesel transit vehicles” with electric alternatives.
Granholm is a driving force behind the administration’s upcoming infrastructure package. “Identifying risks in the supply chain for high-capacity batteries, including electric-vehicle batteries, and policy guidelines to resolve these risks,” the president said in February.
Multiple requests for comment to the Department of Energy went unanswered.
Granholm joined Proterra’s board of directors in March 2017, and internet archives show her on the board as recently as February 19, 2021, a few days before her appointment on February 25. Her financial statements show that she has equity options worth up to $5 million in the green tech firm, which went public in January via the special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition Corp. Arclight, a NASDAQ-listed firm, has seen its stock rise by about 55 percent since its September IPO, a rise that financial traders attributed to Proterra’s acquisition.
Granholm vowed to step down from the board of directors and sell her shares in the company in a January 16 letter to the appointed agency ethics official, as well as the steps she would take “to prevent any real or potential conflict of interest.” According to a White House official, the former Michigan governor has sold some stock but has not sold any of her Proterra shares. Outside of a house in Oakland, Calif, that she rates between $1 and $5 million Granholm’s interest in Proterra is her main financial asset, according to her financial statements.
Granholm also owns shares in Proterra, according to the White House, but she had no involvement in the president’s visit.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, “Proterra was chosen for today’s virtual visit because it is the leading U.S. producer of electric buses, employing 600 people at its South Carolina and California plants.” “Neither Secretary Granholm nor the Department of Energy had anything to do with the Proterra plant’s selection.”
Granholm is “in the process of selling off all stock in the firm,” according to the official, and will do so “within the 180-day window allowed by the ethics agreement.”
The White House canceled Biden’s expected remarks on infrastructure after this article was released, citing the impending verdict in the George Floyd murder trial. Biden took part in a Proterra virtual tour.
Biden assigned Granholm the task of “identifying threats in the supply chain for high-capacity batteries, including electric-vehicle batteries, and policy recommendations to resolve these risks” in an executive order signed on February 24. Electric-vehicle batteries are one of Proterra’s main products.
“Our lightweight nature allows Proterra® EV batteries to be the best option for commercial vehicles ranging from transit buses and vans to delivery vehicles, construction equipment, and more,” according to Proterra’s website.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly 85% of Proterra employee campaign donations went to Democrats, including Joe Biden.
Wednesday, April 21, 9:21 a.m.
The decision by the White House to cancel Biden’s remarks at Proterra has been modified in this piece.