The U.S. Senate passed the organizing resolution on Feb. 3 giving Senate Democrats control of committees and officially appointing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Joe Manchin
Joe Manchin

Manchin was sworn into the U.S. Senate in November 2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. He has served as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the 116th Congress and has been a member of the committee since being elected to the Senate.

Born and raised in a small West Virginia coal-mining town, Manchin believes in an “all-of-the-above energy policy” and, as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he has doubled down on his commitment to a broad range of pragmatic climate solutions, according to his website.

“I am proud of the committee’s productive, bipartisan work last Congress, but our work is never done and with a new administration incoming there is no shortage of work to do to advance a cleaner energy future while ensuring no worker is left behind and our energy independence remains uncompromised,” Manchin said in a statement on Feb. 4.

On the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Manchin is ensuring West Virginia coal communities have a seat at the table to discuss cleaner energy solutions and opportunities for economic development in the country’s clean energy future, his website said. 

Manchin’s site also said he is working to make the Appalachian Storage Hub, a proposed mega-infrastructure and petrochemical project that would support growing natural gas production in his home state, a reality.