'One Horror Story After Another': Greg Pence Hammers Energy Sec. Granholm Over EV Regulations

7 months ago

During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN) questioned Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm about electric vehicle regulations, and costs for consumers.

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Transcript

00:00 He holds it back and I'll go to Mr. Pence for five minutes.

00:03 Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member DeGette

00:09 for holding this.

00:09 And thank you, Madam Secretary, for being here.

00:14 Back home, I'm in the Indiana 6th District.

00:17 I spent my entire life in the petroleum distribution

00:20 business.

00:20 And I like to say I got the energy where it needed,

00:23 when it needed to be there, affordably, in the quantities,

00:28 and at the right time.

00:31 I've held roundtables in Indiana every two or three months.

00:35 It includes the state of Indiana, utilities,

00:38 research universities like Purdue and Vincennes,

00:42 parking and mobility experts, charging station developers.

00:47 They've all joined together and they've

00:49 shared with me what's happening on the ground.

00:54 That's the most important thing.

00:56 And of course, like all my peers,

00:58 I've met with folks out here that tell me what's going on.

01:03 Let me ask you a question I always ask others.

01:07 It's a goofy question, but do you

01:09 know how many cars they sell in Europe every year?

01:11 In Europe?

01:12 No, I do not.

01:12 About 8 million.

01:13 Do you know how many cars they sell in the United States

01:15 every year?

01:16 Well, we've got over 300 million on the roads.

01:18 I know that.

01:18 So about 16 million.

01:20 These are round numbers.

01:21 And how many cars do they sell in China

01:23 where we know they want EVs?

01:24 A lot more.

01:25 28 million.

01:27 So sometimes I worry a little bit

01:28 that what we're doing is we're rolling out supporting

01:32 the automobile industry so that they

01:34 can sell more cars in China.

01:36 And I would laud Toyota that has looked at hybrids.

01:41 Let me ask you this.

01:42 Why haven't we looked more at hybrids instead of saying,

01:46 let's go to EVs so fast?

01:49 We're in favor of hybrid electric.

01:50 You're in favor of it?

01:51 OK.

01:52 Did you mandate--

01:53 They get tax credits.

01:53 Did you mandate hybrids by 2035?

01:55 Nobody's mandating anything, just to be clear.

01:58 There's no mandates.

01:58 But hybrid electric vehicles are absolutely qualified

02:02 for the tax credits.

02:03 Nobody's mandating anything, but you're

02:05 incentivizing the heck out of--

02:08 Incentivizing hybrids, too.

02:09 Sure.

02:10 And in these roundtables, the first one

02:12 I had about 18 months ago, I said--

02:14 and there's about 30 people there.

02:16 And we share what's happening out in the marketplace.

02:20 I said, you're all here because of the incentives, the grants,

02:23 and the dollars that the federal government are putting out.

02:25 Now tell me how that's going.

02:28 And it's one horror story after another.

02:31 Are you aware of the problems with the charging stations,

02:36 with the processing systems in the charging stations,

02:39 with the inability to get the electricity to where they want

02:42 to put the charging stations, with the problems they have

02:46 in urban areas where EVs or charging stations are

02:50 a real problem in parking garages and apartment complexes?

02:53 100% I'm aware of that.

02:54 And that's what the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

02:58 Initiative is all about, is to fix those very problems.

03:02 So to give money to solve a problem that is being

03:06 created by this administration.

03:08 To fix the gaps in the infrastructure associated

03:11 with electric vehicles.

03:12 Yes, our goal is to get 500,000 charging stations out there

03:15 across the country.

03:17 Today, there are 188,000.

03:19 There are still gaps.

03:20 It is difficult to get charging--

03:21 And you're well aware of how many

03:23 of those are not operating, that aren't working when people--

03:27 Part of that whole initiative is to do a rip and replace.

03:29 So why doesn't-- here's what I'm saying.

03:33 I'm not here to argue with you today.

03:36 I'm for all of the above, like everybody else on this committee

03:40 is.

03:41 But why can't we be a little more cautious

03:47 and take our time on rolling this out,

03:51 going after the carbon industry?

03:54 I'm a little concerned about e-RINs.

03:57 I talked with the EPA the last time he was here.

04:01 I think he'll be here in two weeks.

04:03 I didn't know what e-RINs-- what's

04:04 the motivation behind e-RINs.

04:06 Why can't the administration just

04:08 take a little bit of a time out and reassess

04:11 what's happening out in the field

04:13 that my constituents tell me about?

04:15 Yeah, we're assessing every single day.

04:18 And in fact, there's a lot of push

04:19 for us to move much faster on the one hand,

04:22 and some who are saying--

04:23 They can't be by the people that are out there implementing

04:27 these things.

04:28 The people I meet with, they're putting in the charging

04:31 stations.

04:31 They're the utility companies.

04:33 They're the distribution companies.

04:36 Whoever's telling you to move faster

04:39 is not part of the solution of getting where you want to go

04:43 and where we'd all like to go.

04:44 Well, I know we talked to different folks,

04:46 but we are trying to solve for those very problems

04:50 that you're describing.

04:51 It takes, on average, 18 months to pull electricity

04:54 to an area for a charging station, for a fast charger,

04:57 where it doesn't already exist.

04:59 The states, the state of Indiana,

05:00 has the funding to be able to do this,

05:02 and they are doing it in their own way.

05:04 There's a shortage on transformers and things

05:07 like that.

05:07 We're working on--

05:08 At that point in time--

05:08 --for all of those things, everywhere, all at once.

05:11 Thank you for your time, Mr. Chairman.

05:13 I yield back.

05:13 >> Time's expired, I'll now.

'One Horror Story After Another': Greg Pence Hammers Energy Sec. Granholm Over EV Regulations

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