Tipsheet

Now We Know Why Granholm Laughed at High Gas Prices

A 2018 music video about the end of gasoline and fossil fuels that recently resurfaced shows Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm making a cameo.

Discussing how the end of gas-powered vehicles has gone from a pipe dream to a serious goal in a short amount of time, NPR cited advocacy group Coltura and their previous efforts to draw attention to the issue, such as through music videos. 

[J]ust a few years ago, its main tools in that fight were things like break-up-themed music videos...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GASOLINE, GASOLINE (THE WORLD'S AFLAME)")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) We had a good run, but now we're done.

DOMONOSKE: ...And performance art.

MATTHEW METZ: We did what's called the Ghosts of Gasoline - actors that were dressed up in their white bodysuits with hoses and nozzles.

DOMONOSKE: Matthew Metz is the co-executive director of Coltura, and he says art like this got people talking. But when Coltura tried to propose actual laws to end the sale of gas cars, people laughed.

They're not laughing anymore. Coltura helps write legislation now. […]

DOMONOSKE: ...It featured a cameo from a woman with a blonde bob, enthusiastically lip-syncing along about the urgent need to give up gasoline. That was Jennifer Granholm, better known today as the secretary of energy.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GASOLINE, GASOLINE (THE WORLD'S AFLAME)")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Gasoline, gasoline, I got a new dream. Gasoline, gasoline, I'm going green. (NPR)

Granholm appears around the 1:20 and 2:07 marks.


The report comes shortly after Granholm laughed hysterically when asked for her plan to increase the production of oil in the U.S. 

“That is hilarious. Would that I had the magic wand on this,” she said. 

“As you know, of course, oil is a global market. It is controlled by a cartel. That cartel is called OPEC,” Granholm continued. “And they made a decision yesterday that they were not going to increase beyond what they were already planning.”

As Katie reported, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also admitted this month that high gas prices are helping the administration push "alternative" energy sources.

"Our view is that the rise in gas prices over the long term makes an even stronger case for doubling down on our investment and our focus on clean energy options so we are not relying on the fluctuations and OPEC and their willingness to put more supply and meet the demand in the market," Psaki said.

President Biden on his first day in office canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline and is now considering closing Michigan's Line 5. Additionally, he is reportedly planning a 20-year drilling ban in parts of New Mexico.