Heinrich named ranking member of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

By Susan Morée, NM Political Report

The U.S. Senate has named Sen. Martin Heinrich as ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee plays an important role in setting national energy policies and managing public land within the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. The Committee also oversees the U.S. Department of Energy and has jurisdiction over U.S. territories and nuclear waste policy.

Heinrich has been a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee since 2013. The committee provides recommended courses of action to the senate body on energy and natural resource issues.  

Heinrich will replace out-going Sen. Joe Manchin, R-West Virginia, who did not seek reelection. Manchin currently chairs the committee, but because Republicans took the Senate in the 2024 election, the chair will go to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

“I am honored to have been chosen by my colleagues to serve as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  The responsibility to lead our Caucus in driving our energy and natural resources work is one I take very seriously. At the same time, I am clear-eyed about the work we will need to do to defend and protect our communities from the threats we will inevitably face from the incoming administration,” Heinrich said through the release.