Department of Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm is spending spring break on a taxpayer-funded trip to Puerto Rico this week, her fourth official visit to the island since October.
Granholm arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday and is scheduled to stay until Friday. Her public schedule listed three events during her first two days, including touring a technical college and visiting with a local homeowner. On Wednesday, she will tour a community solar project, host an energy and agriculture round table, and visit a bioenergy generation center. She will also attend a disabilities round table later in the week.
One of Granholm’s goals at DOE has been to help modernize Puerto Rico’s struggling power grid, which was nearly wiped out by Hurricane Maria in 2017. But her extended visits to the U.S. island—she has spent at least 10 official work days there since February—are raising eyebrows with energy experts, who questioned the necessity of the long junkets amid a global energy crisis.
[It’s good to be Queen, er, the Duchess of the DoE. — Ed]
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