DOE Infrastructure Lead Confirmed
Former energy executive David Crane at a 2022 hearing on his nomination to lead the Department of Energy’s new infrastructure arm.
(Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee)
The Senate voted 56-43 last week to confirm David Crane as the Department of Energy’s under secretary for infrastructure.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) staunchly opposed Crane’s nomination, accusing the former energy company CEO of being a “climate activist” and of “activism against companies that do not subscribe to his ideology.” However, six Republicans ultimately crossed the aisle to vote in favor of him: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Hoeven (R-ND), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
President Biden first nominated Crane to be under secretary last August and he has been serving since September as director of DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, a position he will now oversee as under secretary.
DOE realigned the under secretary role last year largely to oversee the office, which Congress created to administer the more than $20 billion in commercial-scale energy projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 . The under secretary also oversees certain previously existing offices, including the Loan Programs Office, which had its lending authority vastly expanded through last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
