Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-02) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, following recent comments she made claiming that the United States could “learn” from China’s efforts on climate change.
“I was deeply disturbed that Secretary Granholm recently espoused CCP propaganda, claiming the U.S. could “learn” from China’s so-called efforts to combat climate change. As Secretary of Energy, she should know that China is the world’s worst polluter and has exported environmental degradation globally — U.S. officials need to be exposing the CCP’s climate farce, not parroting their talking points.” – Congresswoman Ashley Hinson
Read the full letter HERE or below:
Dear Secretary Granholm,
I write to express serious concern over comments you recently made espousing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda. While speaking at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, you touted Communist China’s abhorrent policies, going so far as to state that the United States of America can “learn” from what China is doing to combat climate change.
These statements demonstrate either a shocking disregard for the atrocities committed by the CCP or lapse in judgment about the CCP’s propaganda – propaganda that is entirely detached from reality. Either is unbecoming of our U.S. Secretary of Energy. The CCP’s empty environmental promises are a smokescreen employed to obfuscate their egregious human rights abuses and aggressive actions on the world stage.
The CCP’s propaganda machine is always spinning – and their lies about China’s commitment to clean energy are no exception. China is the world’s top polluter, accounting for nearly 31 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2021. Additionally, the CCP has exported environmental degradation through their predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), strategically financing an estimated 150 coal-fired power plants outside of China. Furthermore, as your Administration continues its push toward electric vehicle (EV) mandates as part of a “clean” energy future, you conveniently ignore the negative environmental impacts of the CCP’s mining and production operations. Even worse, you gloss over the fact that the vast majority of the lithium batteries necessary for EVs are made using slave labor in China. It is astonishing that one of your agency’s top priorities is deeply intertwined with a supply chain tainted by the CCP’s coercive labor practices. To then applaud the CCP for these very same practices is antithetical to American values.
The CCP is not a climate role model – this authoritarian regime is not a role model in any capacity. They use the environment as a bargaining chip. For example, they halted discussions with the U.S. regarding climate cooperation when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to the sovereign nation of Taiwan. The CCP’s so-called commitment to clean energy that you ardently praised as “encouraging” is nothing more than a hollow promise. As with countless other failed promises, China’s regime has no intent to follow through, and we owe it to the American people, our international allies, and future generations to call out the CCP’s lies.
While you and I may differ on a wide range of environmental policies, we should be able to agree that it is in the best interest of Americans, and the world, to hold the CCP accountable for their environmental manipulation and perpetual broken promises. We cannot take CCP propaganda at face value, particularly with Xi Jinping simultaneously claiming the right to an unchecked industrial era; we have to treat the CCP based on what they do, not based on the lies they tell. The CCP’s climate farce needs to be exposed by U.S. officials, not parroted by them. There has never been a more important time for U.S. officials, of all parties and at all levels of government, to speak with one voice against the CCP.
Given the serious nature of your comments, I request a response in writing to the following questions:
1. Are you aware of China’s current greenhouse gas emission levels and status as the top carbon dioxide producer in the world? If yes, what about this is “encouraging” and a good model for the United States?
2. What concrete steps is your department taking to counter human rights abuses perpetrated by the CCP, particularly with regard to the production of EVs, their component parts, and other “green” or “clean” energy technologies?
3. Have you spoken with your counterparts at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense about your assessment of the CCP’s climate policies and “solutions” to climate challenges?
4. If you have spoken to the Secretaries of State and Defense about this matter, did they inform you of the consequences of your pro-CCP rhetoric or advise you on the danger to Americans and our allies imposed by espousing CCP propaganda?
5. Do your statements account for the grave threat to the environment posed by the CCP’s continued military aggression or theft of climate-friendly American intellectual property?
Thank you for your prompt reply. Should you have any questions, please contact my office at (202) 225-2911.
Sincerely,
Ashley Hinson
