Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday called for a North American alliance on energy, with the United States, Canada, and Mexico to work as one energy hub that would create the "superpower of the world" in oil and gas.
"Let's look at the reality and the world we live in," the West Virginia Democrat said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Europe has made some decisions that weren't good for them. They're paying the price because of their dependency on dirty Russian oil and natural gas."
Further, the hostilities in Ukraine are a war brought by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has "weaponized energy," said Manchin. "He used it against Europe … the least we can do is maintain our energy independence and be able to backfill every way possible. We can do it with cleaner American energy."
Environmentalists don't want to keep fossil fuels, but "we can make sure we produce the cleanest resources basically from fossil but be able to segue into a cleaner environment," Manchin insisted. "We can do both. You can't do one and not the other and think we'll be fine."
Further, the United States should be ramping up its oil and gas production, said Manchin, not only to regain the country's energy independence but to help Europe.
"If we don't get Europe up and loaded for next year, for the summer when they have depleted all of their reserves, there's going to be a big problem coming," said the senator.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis already being seen in Ukraine could spread through Europe if Russia decides to go further, said Manchin, and that means the United States must do more to be energy independent.
"In West Virginia we have been trying to build a 42-inch pipeline, taking the abundant natural gas resources we have that would bring 2 billion cubic feet a day into the market," said Manchin. "It would help down in Louisiana. That would prevent a freeze-up that we saw in Texas. These types of things, we should be doing. As we bring cleaner energy online, you can resleeve those with different size pipes."
The United States must also think of an all-in energy policy, but that means the government must be working as the partner for energy, not as an adversary, said the senator.
"Reliability is the name of the game," he added. "For the superpower of the world, we should not be dependent on Iran or Venezuela to produce oil, the dirtiest in the world, when we can do it here in America."
Manchin also on Wednesday defended his opposition to the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve, who has since withdrawn as a candidate.
Biden accused industry and conservative interest groups of staging baseless attacks against her, but Manchin disagreed.
"This was a 10-year appointment," said Manchin, noting that she backed cutting investments in fossil fuels.
"We don't have the technology to take up the void of what would happen if we walk away from fossil fuels," said Manchin. "What we can do is produce fossils much cleaner and bring renewables on board.
"When one overtakes the other, I guarantee you people will go with the renewables. The people aren't there yet. I don't think she could get there. I have all the respect in the world for her. This is a philosophical belief I have and a 10-year position was a long time to take that risk."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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