Through the Freedom of information Act (FOIA), Americans for Public Trust obtained Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s official calendar revealing a private meeting in June 2021 between Granholm and the CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the group spearheading a nationwide ban of gas stoves.
“Despite calling stories about the Biden Administration banning gas stoves ‘ridiculous’ and ‘not true,’ Secretary Granholm’s calendar tells a different story. We’ve now learned that she consulted with the dark money group pushing to ban gas stoves. Suffice to say, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘not true’ proposals don’t ordinarily involve a meeting with the Secretary of Energy—and where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Americans everywhere must demand Granholm and green energy extremists stay out of their kitchens,” said Caitlin Sutherland, Executive Director of Americans for Public Trust.
Jules Kortenhorst, the CEO of RMI at the time of the meeting, is a notorious global climate activist who also founded the Energy Transitions Commission and chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Net Zero Transition.
RMI has made recent headlines after it was exposed for funding a study that highlighted public health dangers posed by gas stove usage. In early January, a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that a gas stove ban was “on the table.”
Additionally, RMI has strong ties to the Chinese government centered around transitioning away from traditional fossil fuels. RMI’s only office outside the United States is located in Beijing, China.
In 2013, RMI collaborated with the National Development and Reform Commission, a Chinese government entity striving to lay out an itinerary for “China’s revolution in energy consumption and production to 2050.”
