Mich Gov Granholm To Meet With Obama Transition Team Wed

WASHINGTON -- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm - a Democrat shortlisted as a candidate for Energy Secretary - is to meet Wednesday with the President-elect's transition team, the governor's spokeswoman said late Tuesday.

People close to the matter said late last week that President-elect Barack Obama was expected to soon announce his energy, natural resources and environmental team, possibly this week.

Granholm's press secretary Liz Boyd said the governor will be meeting on Capitol Hill with Senators Carl Levin, D-Mich, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., as well as others, to discuss the economic stimulus package Congress is developing and bridge loans for the ailing U.S. auto makers.

"She'll also be meeting with members of the Obama transition team to discuss energy issues, specifically bringing green jobs to Michigan," Boyd said

She will be accompanied by two of her key energy advisors, Skip Pruss, director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, and Doug Parks, an alternative energy expert at the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Boyd declined to comment when asked if the Obama team had officially requested the Governor join the President-elect's cabinet.

The Governor was asked earlier this year by Obama to head panel discussions on renewable energy at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The President-elect is keen to move forward a renewable energy standard in the new year, not only to offset greenhouse gas emissions, but as an essential part of the country's economic recovery.

Transition officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last week that research portfolios for the Energy Secretary, Interior Secretary and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator designates had to be finalized by this past Sunday.

People close to the Obama team said one of the other top contenders for the energy secretary post is the former chairman of Edison International (EIX), John Bryson, one of the strongest advocates for moving the country's gasoline and diesel-driven vehicles to electric cars.

With many of Obama's appointments coming from public service, insiders say the President-elect's team wants to appoint an energy secretary from industry, and one with the gravitas to help steer the massive Department of Energy into a new green era. That's one of the reasons that Bryson and Governor Granholm are now said to have pulled ahead in consideration in front of another contender, Dan Reicher, director of Google's climate change and energy initiatives division.

Another name that has surfaced is Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and a Nobel Prize winning physicist.

-By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com