Biden Pulls Energy Department Nominee After Gas Stove Spat With Manchin

The White House withdrew its nominee for an Energy Department posting, ending a months-long standoff and handing a win to Senator Joe Manchin, who has protested the agency’s plans to regulate gas stoves.

Jeff Marootian’s nomination to be assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy had been stalled since May, when Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, scrubbed a committee vote. At the time, Manchin argued he was “not comfortable moving forward” with Marootian, who had been tapped to lead the Energy Department division spearheading the stove energy-efficiency rule that the senator opposed.