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What You Need to Know: The Biden Administration’s Disturbing Ties to Proterra

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have left thousands of hard-working Americans behind while using their green energy policies to line the pockets of some of their staunchest political allies.

May 27, 2021

The Biden-Harris administration has taken a page from the 2009 Obama stimulus package, which was marred by hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being wasted. They’ve signaled their intent to aggressively spend taxpayer money on more green energy projects despite the failures of Solyndra.

Instead of focusing on an all-of-the-above energy approach that creates good-paying jobs and provides affordable energy to the American people, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have left thousands of hard-working Americans behind while using their green energy policies to line the pockets of their political allies.

One of the most glaring examples of this is Biden and Harris publicly promoting Proterra — an electric vehicle company that has deep ties to various Democrat officials, including Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. Here’s what we know about the Biden administration’s links to the company:

A Cabinet Secretary Reaps the Benefits of Her Boss’s Visit

White House Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm owned up to $5 million in vested stock options in Proterra as the White House has had back-to-back events linked to the green energy company and pushed for electric vehicle investments in their taxpayer-funded infrastructure package, according to reporting from the Washington Free Beacon.

Free Beacon: “Biden’s infrastructure package includes a $174 billion investment in the electric vehicle market, calls for the replacement of ‘50,000 diesel transit vehicles’ in favor of electric alternatives, and creates a Clean Buses for Kids program that will ‘electrify at least 20 percent of our yellow school bus fleet.’”

“Granholm has taken a leading role in the administration’s forthcoming infrastructure package. The president in February tasked her with ‘identifying risks in the supply chain for high-capacity batteries, including electric-vehicle batteries, and policy recommendations to address these risks.’”

On April 19th, Kamala Harris visited Thomas Built Buses in North Carolina, which counts Proterra as its main supplier of electric vehicles. On April 20th, Joe Biden participated in a virtual tour of the Proterra manufacturing facility in South Carolina. It’s the same company that as of Spring 2021 had Granholm on its board of directors and held a significant financial stake.

CNN: “That Granholm even promoted electronic cars as part of the administration’s climate push is already ethically questionable, experts say, but Biden and Harris’ direct highlighting of Proterra is even more problematic as it could increase the company’s value when it goes public — and increase Granholm’s profits.”

Granholm sold her shares in Proterra this week after facing sharp criticism from Republicans over the conflict of interest. According to a report from Politico, the move left the secretary with net capital gains of $1.6 million.

White House Officials Hold Ties to Proterra

Secretary Granholm is not the only Biden official with links to Proterra. Prior to joining the administration, National Economic Council director Brian Deese worked at BlackRock — one of several investment firms that has pumped millions of dollars into Proterra’s public merger with ArcLight. As of February, Deese held more than $2.4 million of vested restricted stock in BlackRock.

Free Beacon: “National Economic Council director Brian Deese is also tied to Proterra through BlackRock, the investment giant where he worked as global head of sustainable investing before joining the Biden administration. BlackRock is one of several investment firms that pumped a combined $415 million into the Proterra merger, and Deese reported holding more than $2.4 million in BlackRock vested restricted stock in his February financial disclosure.”

Deese also joined President Biden in the virtual tour of a Proterra facility in April and touted the administration’s plans to invest billions of dollars into electric buses similar to the ones Proterra produces.

Free Beacon: “Deese in April virtually toured Proterra’s South Carolina factory with President Joe Biden, touting a proposed $45 billion government investment in ‘clean, zero-emissions buses’ such as those produced by Proterra. Just days later, the Biden administration again amplified the bus company, hosting Proterra CEO Jack Allen at its Leaders Summit on Climate. Administration officials repeatedly praised Proterra at the event, and Allen responded by thanking the White House for its ‘longstanding support of electric transit buses and zero emission transportation.’”

Obama-Biden Officials Lobby the White House, Green Energy for Biden

Connections between the Biden world and Proterra go even deeper, according to additional reporting from the Free Beacon.

Weeks before Biden touted Proterra during his official tour of the South Carolina plant, Proterra hired two Obama-Biden administration officials to lobby the Biden-Harris White House. The head of that lobbying firm co-chaired Green Energy for Biden, a group that raised millions of dollars for Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.

More recently, former vice president Al Gore — whose investment firm raised $55 million in financing for Proterra in 2017 — lobbied the Biden White House for more green energy spending through Democrats’ infrastructure package.

The call between Gore and White House senior staff came one week before Proterra debuted on the Nasdaq, a major financial boon for Gore’s investment firm.

Free Beacon: “Former vice president Al Gore, whose investment firm raised $55 million in financing for the electric battery company in 2017, reportedly spoke with Biden in recent weeks to lobby the White House on keeping climate policy as a focus of his infrastructure proposal, which is expected to include major subsidies for green energy companies like Proterra. In addition to his meeting with the president, Gore spoke with top Biden consigliere Steve Ricchetti last week about funding the green energy industry through the infrastructure package.”

Democrat Party Mega-Donors Reap the Windfall

As the administration rolls out more details on its green energy spending, Democrat mega-donors are in a good place to financially benefit. The Pritzker Family is one of the party’s largest political donors, and J.B. Pritzker is the Governor of Illinois.

Free Beacon: “Nicholas Pritzker and his wife Susan are prolific donors to Democratic candidates and causes. In the 2020 cycle alone, Susan Pritzker—a Tao Capital director—was the 95th largest donor in America. She contributed more than $3 million to Democrats in disclosed money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Nicholas Pritzker has given at least $1.9 million to Democrats in direct contributions, including maximum contributions to Biden’s campaign and victory fund, FEC filings show.”

The Pritzkers are heavily invested in ArcLight, the company that announced a merger with Proterra back in January. After the announcement, the stock price boomed.

Free Beacon: “Nicholas and Joby Pritzker—members of Illinois Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker’s megadonor family—own nearly 12 million shares of ArcLight through their venture capital fund, Tao Capital. ArcLight in January announced a $1.6 billion merger with Proterra, which will see the electric vehicle manufacturer go public in 2021.”

“These investors are posed for steep gains, as ArcLight’s stock price has surged 50 percent—from $11.90 to $18 per share—since January.”

Proterra Co-founder Gets Direct Access to Biden Pentagon Official

Ryan Popple, Proterra’s co-founder and executive director, spoke with top Pentagon official Melissa Dalton about the military’s plans to electrify its vehicle fleet, according to a report from the Free Beacon.

Free Beacon: “A Pentagon official spoke Friday with a top executive for the electric battery maker Proterra who asked whether the Biden administration would work with the private sector to ‘electrify’ the military, the latest in a string of White House actions showing favor to the politically connected green energy company.”

Free Beacon: “Dalton responded that Biden’s Department of Defense would be taking steps toward ‘electrifying our own tactical vehicle fleet’ and would be looking to partner with the private sector to achieve those goals. ‘There is so much work to do in this vein, given the stakes,’ Dalton told the Proterra executive at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s conference. ‘Really looking forward to building out DoD’s partnership with you all in the private sector on this important issue set.’”

Additional Biden administration officials — including EPA chief Michael Regan and White House climate czars John Kerry and Gina McCarthy — also attended the conference.