Will Granholm be energy secretary?

From left to right, Swedish Ambassador to the U.S. Jonas Hafstrom, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, and former Flint resident and U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Michael Wood meet for the groundbreaking of a biogas plant in Flint, and the creation of the Flint Center of Energy Excellence. (photo: B MOR Creeeative via Flickr.com)

Gov. Jennifer Granholm continues to figure in discussions of the emerging administration of President-elect Barack Obama and is scheduled to meet with the new administration’s transition team today for a discussion of energy issues.

David Poulson, associate director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and professor at Michigan State University, notes there have been multiple mentions of Granholm as a possible energy secretary. That’s a change from last week when Granholm was touted by the Washington Post as a possible secretary of labor.

This week Granholm is on the AP’s shortlist of potential energy secretaries along with John Bryson, retired chairman of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, which is a leading advocate for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Ralph Izzo, chairman of Public Service Enterprise Group, a New Jersey-based energy holding company, and Steven Chu, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and director of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, were also mentioned.

However, the second-term Democratic governor is not listed by Yahoo News, which names Dan Reicher, who runs the Energy and Climate office for the philanthropic arm of Google, and served as assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, as a leading contender. Yahoo also names Chu, pointing out his executive experience running the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “a government lab in California that employs 4,000 people and focuses on renewable and alternative energy.”

CNN reports that Granholm is in the running and names Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as another possible choice. Schwarzenegger’s term is up in 2010, and he is term-limited.

Granholm is “attractive and articulate — she’s got much more intellectual heft than [Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin],” Poulson said — but, he added, “she’s not particularly popular in Michigan.”

“It seems like she’s making a lot of noise about renewable energy and how Michigan should use its manufacturing base to promote alternative energy,“ Poulson said. “She’s certainly talking the talk, but I don’t think Michigan is really walking the walk yet when it comes to renewable energy. This may be because she can’t lead in this policy area, or perhaps it’s because of the horrible economic situation here. To move to green economy would be difficult even in good times.”

Last year Granholm created the Michigan Climate Action Council, which is charged with coming up with a set of recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and is scheduled to release its report by Dec. 31. In September, with much urging from the governor, Michigan became the 28th state to enact a Renewable Portfolio Standard. The energy law requires that 10 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2015, a modest goal among states that have such standards.

Asked whether Granholm is interested in the job, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said, “All I can tell you is that she is looking forward to serving as governor with a partner in the White House.”

But Granholm’s hairdresser, stylist and Saginaw County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Cheryl Hadsall, told the Saginaw News she thinks the governor is interested.

“If she was called and was offered the right job, she would take it. Something where she could better promote Michigan. … What a great voice she would be for us in Washington.”

Hadsell said that as of her last visit with the governor on Dec. 1, Granholm had not received any job offers from the President-elect.

Poulson said he’d like to see President-elect Obama reach far outside the mainstream for an energy secretary and consider someone like efficiency expert Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Al Gore has also been discussed as possible member of the Obama administration energy or environment teams, but Poulson said, “Gore doesn’t seem to be interested, and he’s such a lightning rod for polarization. I‘m not sure that is the best thing.”