Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm acted like she was not aware of statements President Joe Biden made in the past about fossil fuels.
Energy secretary confronted on Biden's campaign pledge to end fossil fuels: 'I did not hear him say that' https://t.co/cOEUr5jh1f
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During a Friday discussion on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” about the Biden administration’s decision to pause approvals of liquefied natural gas or LNG exports, Granholm was asked about Biden’s shaky stance on fossil fuels in general.
Host Joe Kernen asked, “Activists are hailing the decision as a landmark crisis that shows that industries will no longer just get a blank ‘okay’ to proceed with building oil and gas products, a powerful statement we can no longer allow the industries to continue operating and that hearkens back to President Biden’s campaign vow to put the fossil fuel business out of business. And he said, ‘Read my lips, we will put fossil fuels out of business.’”
“I did not hear him say that,” he responded.
Kernen retorted, asking the Biden admin official to go take a look at Youtube.
While on the campaign trail in 2019, Biden had promised to end fossil fuel after a New Hampshire environmental activist confronted him about accepting donations from the co-founder of a firm that deals in liquefied natural gas.
Denying that the donor was associated with fossil fuel, Biden promised voters that his time as president would see an end to fossil fuel.
“I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We’re going to end fossil fuel,” the president, a then-candidate, said at the time.
During Friday’s conversation, Granholm also said that fossil fuels will not be going away any time soon, stating that there will only be a “managed transition.”
Kernen quizzed him about the timing of the transition, stating, “How long do you think, madam secretary? Do you think it is 50 years or do you think it’s 5 years? If you’re pausing now, it assumes that we’re going to be able to transition in, like, 5 or 10 years. There are people that say it is going to be at least 50 years for the global economy to be able to operate. It can’t operate without fossil fuels. You can’t get fossil fuels without infrastructure.”
“We are working every day at the Department of Energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that means making sure we manage carbon emissions, We reduce carbon emissions, we have the technology associated with the oil and gas industry,” Granholm said.
She went further, saying, “Many are stepping up to the plate in that the reason why people say that by 2050 we will get to net-zero is because there is a recognition that there will need to still be,– and this is not just me saying this, this is the science from the international panel on climate change, that there will still be some use of fossil fuels.
