Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) abruptly canceled a committee vote Wednesday to advance President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy efficiency office, citing concerns over the candidate's support for the agency's proposed appliance efficiency standards, which could take half of all gas stoves off the market.

Manchin, who chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, had previously supported the nomination of Jeff Marootian to lead DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, or EERE.

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On Wednesday, however, he yanked the committee's planned vote to consider Marootian for the role.

“While I supported Mr. Marootian’s nomination in December, since then the office he’s been nominated to lead has proposed stove efficiency rules that I’ve raised concerns about," Manchin told the Washington Examiner in a statement.

Marootian currently serves as a senior adviser for energy efficiency and renewable energy to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. He had been tapped in July to head up the EERE office, a post that has been vacant since the departure of Daniel Simmons, a Trump-era holdover, in 2021.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to confirm Marootian to the role in November, but his nomination stalled at the end of the legislative session.

In January, Biden renominated him for the role.

But DOE has since proposed a number of new appliance efficiency standards aimed at cracking down on emissions from household appliances.

In February, DOE unveiled its new “Energy Policy and Conservation Program," the proposed rulemaking that would allow it to set new efficiency and conservation standards for consumer conventional cooking products, including gas stoves.

It said in a memo that the proposed rules would make at least half of U.S. stove models ineligible for repurchase in stores if they were to come into force today.

These actions have drawn the ire of congressional Republicans, as well as Manchin, who view the efforts as attempted government overreach.

"While I appreciate that these rules would only apply to new stoves, my view is that it’s part of a broader, Administration-wide effort to eliminate fossil fuels," Manchin told the Washington Examiner. "For that reason, I’m not comfortable moving forward with Mr. Marootian at this time.”