A staunch defender of fossil fuel use and vocal critic of climate alarmism, Wright is expected to fulfil Trump’s campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill” and undo many of his predecessor’s biggest clean energy achievements.
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Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the energy department, reiterated his support for the fossil fuel industry during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, while also acknowledging that climate change is a “real and global issue.”
Wright, who is the CEO of fracking company Liberty Energy and has no political experience, told US senators that his first priority is expanding domestic energy production, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and nuclear power.
“To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans,” Wright said on Wednesday as he accused the Biden administration to have “viewed energy as a liability instead of the immense national asset that it is.”
In January 2024, outgoing President Joe Biden announced a “temporary” pause on pending LNG export permits to allow the Department of Energy to review their economic and environmental impacts. Last week, he also issued a decree that permanently bans new offshore oil and gas development across 625 million acres of US coastal waters.
During the nearly 3-hour hearing, which was interrupted several times by protesters shouting slogans condemning the fossil fuel industry, Wright also voiced support for solar energy and carbon capture technologies and said he would focus on expanding transmission lines to stabilize the US grid, Bloomberg reported.
Questioned by California Senator Alex Padilla about a previous comment he made on social media, where he dismissed the link between climate change and wildfires as “hype,” Wright said he stands by his past comment, adding that he believes climate change is a “real and global phenomenon.”
Padilla’s state is currently battling with massive blazes that have killed at least 24 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area – an area larger than San Francisco – destroying entire communities and more than 12,300 structures. They are on track to be one of the costliest blazes in US history.
“I’ve studied and followed the data and the evolution of climate change for at least 20 years now. It is a global issue. It is a real issue. It’s a challenging issue, and the solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system,” Wright said.
Since his nomination, Wright won support from many conservative figures from the fossil fuel industry in recent weeks, including Oklahoma oil and gas billionaire Harold Hamm, a major Trump donor and informal advisor, and Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
He is expected to win a majority in the 100-member, Republican-controlled Senate, and step down from his position at Liberty once confirmed.
Fossil Fuel Agenda
A staunch defender of fossil fuel use and vocal critic of climate alarmism, Wright, 60, is expected to fulfil Trump’s campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill” and undo many of his predecessor’s biggest clean energy achievements, steering the department back to America’s roots in oil and gas production.
“President Trump shares my passion for energy,” Wright said on Wednesday. “And if confirmed, I will work tirelessly to implement his bold agenda as an unabashed steward for all sources of affordable, reliable and secure American energy.” These included oil and natural gas, which underpin the US economy; coal, as well as low-carbon sources like nuclear power, hydropower, wind, solar and geothermal power, he added.
The burning of coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat is the single-largest source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These are the primary drivers of global warming as they trap heat in the atmosphere and raising Earth’s surface temperature.
Coal, the cheapest and dirtiest fossil fuel, is the single-largest source of carbon emissions, responsible for over 0.3C of the 1.2C increase in global average temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. It is also a major contributor to air pollution.
Despite recognizing climate change as a global issue, Wright also said there is no such thing as “dirty energy or clean energy” but rather different sources of energy with different tradeoffs.
In a video posted on LinkedIn in 2023, Wright denied that there is a climate crisis or that we are in the midst of an energy transition.
“Carbon dioxide does indeed absorb infrared radiation, contributing to warming,” Wright said. “But calling carbon dioxide ‘pollution’ is like calling out water and oxygen, the other two irreplaceable molecules for life on earth,” he said in the video.
Criticism
Several environmental advocates have condemned Trump’s choice. Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called Wright’s nomination a “disastrous mistake,” describing him as “a champion of dirty fossil fuels.”
“The Energy Department should be doing all it can to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not trying to promote the dirty fuels of the last century. Given the devastating impacts of climate-fuelled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever,” Wong said.
Featured image: video screenshot.
More on the topic: Environmentalists Weigh In on Trump Cabinet Picks
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