WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., traveled to Paris to attend the International Energy Agency’s 2022 Ministerial Meeting, an energy conference featuring industry leaders from across the globe.
Manchin, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, spoke during the meeting about the need for strategic partnerships to strengthen America’s collective energy security, and reduce our reliance on energy resources and materials from countries like Russia and China.
“I was honored to have been invited by my good friends Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who chaired this year’s meeting, to participate in this important conference on energy and climate,” Manchin said.
“It was clear that Putin’s senseless aggression in Ukraine and his weaponization of energy has made countries and industry reconsider the most responsible way to transition our energy systems for the climate and our collective energy security,” he said. “It is imperative that the United States step in to provide Europe with the energy resources that we are blessed with and they desperately need.”
Manchin also urged leaders to take steps to ensure energy-producing communities are at the heart of plans to continue the transition to a cleaner energy future.
“Throughout this trip, I was excited to hear from global leaders in the private sector and representatives of countries from around the world that have been shocked into the energy realities by Putin’s war,” Manchin said. “They understand that the approaches they are taking to ensure a balance between climate and reliable, affordable energy must include technologies like hydrogen, nuclear, and fusion, and require a responsible transition that will include fossil fuels.
“As Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I will continue to advocate for an all-of-the-above approach to both our energy resources and the technologies to use them in the cleanest way possible to ensure that the United States can step up to the plate to meet our domestic energy needs and those of our allies and partners during this uncertain time and into the future.”
Manchin also traveled to Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France, to tour the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or “ITER,” the world’s first large-scale fusion reactor currently under construction.
Manchin has been a longtime supporter of fusion energy as a valuable resource critical to providing reliable power and addressing climate change. In February, he introduced the Senate’s bipartisan Department of Energy Science for the Future Act, which would support the Department’s Fusion Energy Research division.
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