Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on his plans this week. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images Energy & Environment Bernie Sanders not stepping into Senate Energy void as liberals fear Manchin

Pro-coal Democrat Joe Manchin is positioned to take his party’s top energy policy post in the Senate, to the horror of environmental groups that want aggressive legislative action on climate change.

And climate hawk Bernie Sanders is showing no interest in thwarting him, even though he has the seniority to do so.


The jockeying comes as the top Democratic slot on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to come open if ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) jumps to the Commerce Committee. Her most plausible replacement would be Manchin, a conservative West Virginian who famously shot the Democrats’ cap-and-trade climate bill in a 2010 campaign ad.

Sanders outranks Manchin in seniority on the committee and could block him. But the Vermont independent has shown little inclination to leave his perch as the ranking member of the Budget Committee — even though he made climate change and clean energy a major plank in his 2016 presidential run and plans a national town hall on the issue Monday.

“Anyone but Manchin,” said Lukas Ross, senior policy analyst at Friends of the Earth. “I’d rather pick someone from the phone book.”

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Sanders, who is exploring a 2020 presidential campaign, wrote in an email to POLITICO on Wednesday evening that he is proud of his work on the Budget Committee, where he’s been for his past two terms, and suggested he’d likely stay.

“As ranking member I have helped fight for budget and national priorities, which represent the needs of working families and not just the 1 percent. I look forward to continuing the fight in the new session for social, racial, economic and environmental justice,” he said.

Manchin said he’s interested in serving in the position but that no one has spoken to him about it. He urged all groups Wednesday to give him a chance.

“I think they’ll find me, in any capacity I am, very moderate and trying to find a pathway forward for all sides to be heard and listened to,” Manchin told POLITICO.

Liberal groups want to block Manchin, but they have not yet applied any direct pressure to Sanders or Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. The lack of activity in the Senate contrasts with this month’s raucous protests calling for House Democrats to back a “Green New Deal,” a sweeping proposal to decarbonize the economy being pushed by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We’re not shy about bringing the full spectrum of Democratic actions, including protests, to Capitol Hill, but right now our priority is building power and building a vision on climate change,” said Julian NoiseCat, a U.S. policy analyst for 350.org, which is helping with the push for the Green New Deal in the House. “We see that primarily in the House at this current moment in time.”

Youth advocates flooded the offices of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and incoming Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) earlier this month urging them to back the Green New Deal proposal and make climate change a central plank for their caucus. Pelosi has said she wants to revive a select committee on climate change, and Pallone is promising several E&C hearings on the issue early next year.

Schumer is already facing grumbling on his left flank for appointing Manchin vice chairman of the party’s internal policy and communications committee, and for reappointing him to that leadership post even after Manchin voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Activists warn that allowing the coal-friendly West Virginia Democrat to grab the top spot on Energy would fuel a liberal revolt.

“This is a Chuck Schumer problem,” Ross said. “If he allows Manchin to become ranking member of Energy and Natural Resources, it might be strike three.”

Manchin’s critics aren’t explicitly pressuring Sanders to seize the Energy spot. Some say it’s up to Schumer to reassess seniority rules or do whatever necessary to prevent Manchin from moving up. Other committee Democrats who are more senior than Manchin and could step into the role include Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who are currently ranking members of the Finance and Agriculture committees, respectively.

“There’s probably a lot of people that need to take action here to make sure the Democrats make the right choice. We have every faith [Sanders] will do whatever he can to ensure he’s doing whatever he can on climate change,” said David Turnbull, strategic communications director of Oil Change International. “Lifting Joe Manchin to this position would be a horrible own-goal by the Democrats.”

Still, elevating Sanders would bring some risk as well, given how far to the left his positions are. One environmentalist based in the West said Sanders’ support for the “keep it in the ground” movement on fossil fuels might not play well with Democrats whose states depend heavily on royalties and taxes from oil and gas development.

“There’s a right way and wrong way do to oil and gas development on public land, and that’s not a conversation Bernie Sanders wants to have,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because his organization hadn’t formed a position on who should be the committee’s ranking Democrat.

The threat of a liberal backlash and Sanders’ decision not to campaign for the job have created a difficult decision for Cantwell, who is next in line to be the top Democrat on Commerce after Bill Nelson of Florida lost reelection this year. The Commerce Committee holds broad jurisdiction over industries like aviation and technology that are key employers in her state.

Cantwell told reporters Wednesday she’d yet to make a decision and doesn’t have a timeline for doing so.

Stabenow would also have seniority over Manchin and could face pressure, though she expressed happiness with her current top slot on the Agriculture Committee this week.

Elana Schor contributed to this report.