Manchin Won’t Back Biden’s Interior Department Pick

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, presides over a hearing in Washington on Feb. 16, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said on March 10 that he will not advance Laura Daniel-Davis’ nomination to be the assistant secretary for lands and minerals management at the Interior Department.

Manchin made the announcement in an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle, where he stated he would not be advancing Daniel-Davis’ nomination due to her decision not to reduce fees for firms that extract oil and gas on federal land. She made her decision citing concerns about climate change.

Manchin emphasized that he will not support anyone who agrees with the “erroneous logic” of an internal memo that the Interior Department mistakenly posted to its website on March 3.

According to a memo obtained by Fox News Digital, the former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton recommended late last year that the Department of the Interior (DOI) move forward with higher royalty fees for an oil and gas lease sale spanning 958,202 acres in the Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska as part of its climate agenda. The suggestion was eventually approved by then-DOI Assistant Secretary Daniel-Davis.

This is not the first time Manchin has spoken out against President Joe Biden’s nominees.

Biden’s choice for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Gigi Sohn, announced on March 7 she was withdrawing from consideration following Manchin’s opposition to her nomination, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Sohn said in a statement, first obtained by The Washington Post, that the “unrelenting, dishonest, and cruel attacks on my character and my career as an advocate for the public interest” over the past 16 contentious months since the president first nominated her for the position “have taken an enormous toll on me and my family.”

“It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators,” she said. “And with the help of their friends in the Senate, the powerful cable and media companies have done just that.”

Manchin also opposed the nomination of Daniel Werfel, President Joe Biden’s choice to head the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In a statement released on March 8, Manchin clarified that his opposition to Werfel’s nomination was not due to concerns about the nominee’s qualifications or abilities.

“I have zero faith he will be given the autonomy to perform the job in accordance with the law, and for that reason, I cannot support his nomination,” Manchin said.

Daniel-Davis’ nomination was seen as part of the administration’s promise to pursue officials that would fight climate change.

Manchin criticized the Biden administration’s implementation of the climate, tax, and healthcare bills in the op-ed, claiming that the administration  “continues to ignore congressional intent on critical components” of the legislation.

If that persists, according to Manchin, there will be “consequences now and in the future.”