Granholm touts Biden's manufacturing strategy at Holland battery plant

Holland — U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm touted President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand domestic manufacturing and tackle climate change on Tuesday during a speech at LG Energy Solution's campus in Holland.

His administration's investments in clean energy research, workforce training, investments in disadvantaged communities and other strategies are reversing the losses Granholm witnessed as Michigan governor before and during the Great Recession, she told a crowd of LG workers and local officials during an afternoon speech.

"He asked me to do this job as energy secretary because of what we experienced in Michigan," Granholm said after describing a refrigerator manufacturer moving from Michigan to Mexico because of cheaper labor costs.

"This is an industrial strategy for the 21st century, to invest in America, in all of America. It's an industrial strategy that's based in part upon clean energy. A future of manufacturing revival, thriving businesses, good jobs for our kids, energy independence, products made in America."

Granholm's Holland stop was midway through the Michigan leg of her tour through the Midwest. She started the day in Lansing announcing a new apprenticeship program for battery manufacturing jobs.

The LG facility in Holland broke ground last year on a $2.5 billion expansion project that is expected to increase its annual production capacity by five times and create more than 1,000 jobs. Construction is scheduled to wrap up this year and mass production should start in 2025.

Granholm toured the expansion site before her Tuesday afternoon speech.

Americans for Prosperity-Michigan, a libertarian conservative advocacy group, criticized Granholm's visits in a press release issued between her Lansing and Holland stops, contending her regulatory policies burdened companies and led to economic problems during her tenure as governor.

"Rolling back worker freedom, mandating electric vehicles, and subsidizing favored energy interests will continue the decline that Granholm started as governor: shrinking take-home pay, shrinking population and shrinking opportunity," Americans for Prosperity-Michigan State Director Annie Patnaude said.

The Biden administration recently announced emissions standards that will require automakers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles and EVs. The standards are looser than those originally proposed, a compromise with the automotive industry and United Auto Workers union.

The EV transition has become a flashpoint on the campaign trail, with Republican challenger Donald Trump arguing Biden's policies will require Americans to buy EVs. U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia, also criticized the requirements Tuesday.

Granholm instead framed the transition as a boon for American workers who will work in battery plants and other high-tech fields. She acknowledged that the transition has experienced "fits and starts," with consumers having "range anxiety" and EVs experiencing upfront costs. The Biden administration is tackling those issues with investments in charging infrastructure and tax credits for some EVs, she said.

Development of battery plants also has experienced fits and starts. EV battery parts company Gotion is sparring with Green Township officials over their decision to rescind authorizations for the plant after a recall election stacked the board with opponents to the project.

The controversy has sparked dissent from some in Washington D.C. over the Chinese-affiliated investment. Gotion was founded in China but has a U.S. subsidiary. Its board is one-third Chinese, one-third American and one-third German.

Granholm said she recognizes the issues with having significant Chinese government investment in American projects and said it's important that companies have U.S. subsidiaries and American board members in order to secure investment from the American federal government.

"There is some pushback, I understand that, but honestly we want to continue to drive forward and have these batteries and have these vehicles made in the United States," she said. "We want to get these investments. Years ago, we saw them poach our investment. We're getting it back. We're fighting to get these jobs back."

Earlier in the day, Granholm joined federal, state and labor officials in announcing a certified workforce training program to prepare workers for high-tech battery plant jobs. The apprenticeship-style training program, called the Battery Workforce Initiative, will help build a workforce for the auto industry's electric vehicle transition, she said.

"You have to have demand, you've got to have supply, you have to take care of the holistic approach and one of the pieces of that is making sure we have this skilled workforce," Granholm said.

The energy secretary joined acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, UAW President Shawn Fain, U.S Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, and local political and labor leaders at a UAW hall in Lansing to announce the new training program.

The Battery Workforce Initiative is powered by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Labor, workforce and economic development groups and others. They launched the program in Detroit in December 2022. The groups aim to develop a nationally accepted training program that community colleges and other organizations can use to train students for key jobs in the advanced manufacturing industry, such as battery manufacturing.

"Workers today, especially the young people, they're joining our union, they want more from their jobs than just a paycheck," Fain said. "They want to grow in their jobs. They want a job that makes a difference, and they want to know they're working to solve the climate crisis, not make it worse."

The program will be work-based, allowing students to earn a wage while they learn, and will combine job training with classroom instruction similar to an apprenticeship program.

It will kick off as a pilot program this year at six sites across the country. Those sites have not been chosen, Granholm said. In April, the departments will ask for volunteers to participate as pilot sites. She predicted the training program would be ready to roll out across the country after one year as a pilot.

The various battery manufacturers will help develop the workforce training program to ensure the curriculum fits their needs, Whitmer said.

"As we build battery factories across America at record pace, this battery workforce initiative will ensure we're all on the same page, literally," Whitmer said.

Moolenaar issued a press release Tuesday criticizing the Biden administration's rules that will promote electric vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced emissions standards last week that softened original fuel economy proposals but still will require automakers to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles and EVs in the coming years.

The rules "will force more than half of all cars being sold in 2032 to be electric, which will limit consumer choices and raise prices for vehicles," Moolenaar said.

The growth in EV sales has slowed and the supply chain for minerals required to make EV batteries remains difficult, posing challenges for automakers.

While less popular than internal combustion automobiles last year, EV sales trends remain promising, Granholm said.

"The demand is still high," she said. "There was 1.4 million electric vehicles sold last year. That's 50% more than the year before. The projection is that will be about 1.8 million electric vehicles sold this year. So we're seeing a huge increase…"

ckthompson@detroitnews.com