[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of David Crane

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to rise in 
opposition to the nomination of David Crane, who has been nominated to 
serve as the Under Secretary of Energy for Infrastructure. It is a job 
that involves sending taxpayer money to energy companies. Mr. Crane has 
no business at all deciding how to spend taxpayer money on energy.
  Mr. Crane spent 12 years--a dozen years--as CEO of NRG Energy, a job 
from which he was fired. It is not hard to see why he was fired. In his 
own words, he explained it. He said:

       We were taking the profits from the coal plants and plowing 
     it into solar development . . . that got to be annoying to 
     the shareholders and to the board of directors of the 
     company.

  According to the Wall Street Journal, investors were very unhappy 
with Mr. Crane's investments in renewable energy. His strategy at the 
company led to a 59-percent drop in the company's share price the year 
before his departure. Once he was gone, the company's stock reversed 
course, with a long and sustained rebound.
  Mr. Crane has significantly focused his career on combating climate 
change, which he has called the ``moral imperative of our time.'' He 
has called for ``name and shame'' activism against companies that do 
not share his extreme vision.
  He once wrote that his ``green dream''--he said--included being 
considered ``the Mother Teresa of clean energy.''
  Mr. Crane is welcome to spend his own money however he wishes, but he 
should not be permitted to waste hundreds of billions of dollars in 
taxpayer money in his effort--and it is a delusional effort--to be the 
next Mother Teresa.
  America needs proven, reliable, cost-effective energy--affordable, 
available, reliable. We must unleash American energy production and 
therefore promote energy security for our Nation.
  With our grids stressed and blackouts coming this summer, Mr. Crane 
has absolutely no interest in reliable energy. Instead, he wants to 
spend taxpayer money on sources of energy that make us more dependent 
on our adversaries, like China.
  David Crane's record is that of a climate zealot. It is not what we 
need in this important post at the Department of Energy. We need 
someone who is dedicated to promoting affordable American energy, 
reliable American energy, available American energy. David Crane is 
clearly not that person; nor is he Mother Teresa.
  So I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this terrible 
nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we yield 
back the remaining time and that the vote scheduled at 5:30 p.m. begin.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.