Rep. Robinson’s Confirmation Hearing To Become U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy Scheduled For February

WASHINGTON DC – In September 2021, President Joseph Biden nominated Framingham State Representative Maria Robinson to head the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity.

As the nominee for the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Rep. Robinson, once confirmed by the U.S. Senate, would head the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability within the United States Department of Energy.

A hearing date has finally been set. The hearing will be held on Thursday, February 3, 2022, at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.

The February hearing will be webcast live on the Committee’s website, and an archived video will be available shortly after the hearing concludes. Witness testimony will be available on the website at the start of the hearing.

“Being nominated by President Biden is truly the greatest honor of my life, and I look forward to beginning the confirmation process. To have the opportunity to serve my country using my extensive background in energy policy is a dream come true, as is serving under Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a leader I have long admired. I am especially grateful to my family and dear friends for their ongoing support throughout this entire process,” said Rep. Robinson to SOURCE last September.

“I am grateful to President Biden for nominating Maria Robinson to serve as DOE’s Assistant Secretary in the Office of Electricity. This office’s work to expand and modernize our electric grid, including our transmission system, is critical to helping us confront the climate crisis and create a clean energy economy that works for everyone. Maria has been leading the charge for clean energy in Massachusetts, and her political smarts and technical expertise will help us turn President Biden’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035 into reality. I’m so glad that she’s willing to join the federal government and I look forward to her confirmation,” said Secretary Granholm in a statement tonight, September 22.

The Office leads efforts to modernize the electric grid. It does this through the development and implementation of national policy pertaining to electric grid reliability, and through the management of research, development, and demonstration activities for next generation electric grid infrastructure technologies.

Under the supervision of the Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and Environment, the Assistant Secretary is responsible of for the analysis of electricity congestion, the designation of draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, the coordination of energy corridors across federal lands, and workforce issues related to the electricity utility industry.

Rep. Robinson was elected state representative in 2018, after Chris Walsh died from cancer in May. She has served in the State House since January 1, 2019.

She was the first Korean-American elected to the Massachusetts Legislature.

She leads the House side of the Clean Energy Caucus, serves as the Massachusetts state lead to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators where she is on the board, and is the only state legislator on the U.S. EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Committee

Robinson was director of Director of the Wholesale Markets Program with Advanced Energy Economy for 7 years before she was elected state representative.

She has been a part-lecturer at Tufts University since the summer of 2020 teaching “Energy Policy and the Transformation to Net-Zero for Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Department.”

Rep, Robinson has a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She received a master’s degree in Energy, Environment, and natural Resources Law from the University of Tulsa in 2016.

Rep. Robinson is lifetime Girl Scout, who earned her Silver Award.