Committee Sends Energy And Interior Nominees To Senate Floor With Unanimous Support

Manchin: Nominees bring ‘extensive experience’ and are ‘well qualified’ for positions

June 14, 2022

To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s opening remarks, please click here.

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted to advance the nominations of Dr. David Applegate to be Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Ambassador Carmen G. Cantor to be an Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs at the Department of the Interior and Dr. Evelyn Wang to be Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy at the Department of Energy (DOE). All three nominations passed out of committee by voice vote.

“[All three nominees] are well qualified for the positions to which they have been nominated. Dr. Applegate has been a career geologist with the USGS for the past 18 years and has served as the Acting Director for the past year. Ambassador Cantor is a career member of the Senior Executive Service, and an experienced diplomat with the State Department. She has spent the last two and a half years as our Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, a post to which the Senate confirmed her by voice vote. Dr. Wang is the head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT and has served as the Associate Director of DOE’s Solid State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center. I think all three nominees will bring their extensive knowledge and experience to their positions,” said Chairman Manchin.

To watch the business meeting in full, please click here.

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