Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was heavily criticized Friday after a Fox News Digital report showed she spoke twice with a top Chinese government official before the White House announced plans to tap emergency oil stocks.
According to internal Department of Energy (DOE) calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust, Granholm consulted China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua, a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, Nov. 19, 2021, and two days later on Nov. 21, 2021.
On Nov. 23, 2021, the White House announced a release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
“Before telling the American people of their plans to undermine our energy security by draining the SPR at record rates for political purposes before the midterm elections, Secretary Granholm reportedly first secretly consulted with the Chinese Communist Party,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement.
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“Since then, DOE — under her leadership — has sold millions of barrels of oil from our SPR to China — the world’s biggest polluter,” she added. “It would appear Secretary Granholm meant it when she said America should ‘learn’ from what China is doing.”
In March, during an interview at the annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, Granholm remarked that China is “very sensitive” about climate change and that the U.S. should “learn from what China is doing” on the issue. The energy secretary also lauded China for investing “a lot in their solutions to achieve their goals,” triggering numerous rebukes from Republicans.
McMorris Rodgers added Friday that her committee would demand “answers and full transparency” from Granholm. And McMorris Rodgers reiterated the importance of Congress passing the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act, which would ban the federal government from selling any petroleum product reserves, including those from the SPR, to Chinese entities.
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“The Biden administration secretly colluded with the Chinese Communist Party to help lower energy prices in China while hardworking American taxpayers were left to pay more at the pump here at home,” House GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday. “They always put America last.”
“Why does communist China have more input on U.S. energy policy than the American people under the Biden administration?” Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., added.
As part of its announcement in November 2021, the White House said it was releasing oil from U.S. reserves in conjunction with “other major energy consuming nations including China.” However, President Biden said in remarks after the announcement that China “may do more as well,” and Granholm told reporters during a press briefing that China “will make its own announcement.”
In a June 2022 letter to Granholm, McMorris Rodgers warned China, instead of releasing oil stocks, has increased its own reserves since November 2021. The letter noted China may now have crude inventories of about 950 million barrels, which would make its reserves the largest in the world.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has sold at least 2 million barrels of oil from the SPR to Unipec, an affiliate of the state-controlled China Petrochemical Corporation. Zhang, who met with Granholm in 2021, served in a leadership role for years at the China Petrochemical Corporation, Reuters previously reported.
The first such sale was part of an SPR sale of 20 million barrels awarded to eight companies in September 2021. The other two — both sales for 950,000 barrels of oil — came in April 2022 and July 2022.
“The Biden Admin’s corrupt relationship with China should be alarming to every American,” Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., said Friday. “While claiming that she was meeting with China on climate change, Secretary Granholm was really putting together a plan to drain and sell our SPR to our adversary.”
“This is beyond concerning. Yet another bad decision made by Jennifer Granholm,” Rep. John James, R-Mich., tweeted. “This administration continues to put our adversaries’ interests and security above our own.”
Since taking office, Biden has ordered the DOE to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil stored in the SPR to combat high fuel prices hitting American consumers.
The SPR’s level has fallen to about 346.8 million barrels of oil, the lowest level since August 1983, according to Energy Information Administration data released this week. The current level is 43% lower than its level recorded days prior to the November 2021 release.
“Solving the climate crisis means engaging with competitors and allies in clear and substantive discussions — especially among the nations emitting the most carbon pollution into the atmosphere,” a DOE spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We must all address the transnational challenge of climate change to our planet.”