Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Secretary Jennifer Granholm At President Biden’s Unveiling of America’s First Clean Hydrogen Hubs

I am surely the luckiest Energy Secretary in history. For almost 34 months, I’ve been criss-crossing the country for ground-breakings, ribbon-cuttings, and historic funding announcements. 

But this one is special: the dawn of a new manufacturing sector right here in the United States. 

And in honor of the person who made it all possible, I want to tell you a story about President Joe Biden.  

It was 2008, and the auto industry was in full free fall. No one was buying cars. Credit markets were freezing up. And as Governor of Michigan, I looked into the eyes of too many auto workers who had lost their jobs through no fault of their own...wondering: ‘What’s next for my family?’ 

For years—years!—I’d been begging the federal government for help. Without a federal partner to support manufacturing, states just couldn’t compete with foreign powers stealing our jobs and our futures.  

Then, Joe Biden paid me a visit on the campaign trail. 

“I know you have it rough in Michigan,” he told me, “And you need a partner in Washington. I promise you’ll have one.” 

Promise delivered.  

As VP, he jumpstarted Michigan’s battery manufacturing industry—sending us almost one-and-a-half billion dollars. He helped save the American auto industry, save our economy. Save our jobs. Save our families.    

Now, as President, he’s cementing our future.  

With today's announcement, we're jumpstarting a new clean hydrogen economy here in the U.S.  

Clean hydrogen is the “Swiss Army Knife” of zero-carbon solutions because it can do just about everything:  

Powering trucks, buses, and airplanes…Heating homes and fertilizing crops…Revolutionizing shipping…and cleaning up America’s manufacturing industry. 

Clean hydrogen will shore up our energy security and independence and ensure that energy workers who’ve powered our nation for the last century will propel us for the next 100 years. 

And our $7 billion dollar investment in these hydrogen hubs—matched by nearly $43 billion from the private sector—is a declaration that: 

America will build the most advanced clean energy technologies.  

America will attract the most historic clean energy investments.  

And America will create the highest-paying, longest-lasting, cleanest energy jobs in the world.  

This is what a national clean energy policy looks like. Projects that bring pride to our workers. Work that delivers prosperity and security to our communities. And communities that save money while breathing cleaner air and saving the planet.  

Under President Biden’s leadership and powered by the heart and soul of the greatest workers in the world, the clean energy future is ours to win.   

Thank you Mr. President!