Trump names fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve US “energy dominance” in the global market.

Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.

Frequently criticising what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight”. 

He has never served in government but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.

Conservatives say Chris Wright will bring ‘important perspective’

Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.

Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. 

Hamm helped organise an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion (€950 million) to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if reelected.

Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership” of the Energy Department.

Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.

“He’s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America’s last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said.

Who is energy secretary Chris Wright?

Environmental campaigners say the appointment is bad news for the push for green energy in the US. 

Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels” and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a disastrous mistake”.

In 1992, Wright founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking has long been criticised for its impact on the environment by poisoning groundwater, damaging natural landscapes and generating noise pollution. 

He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.

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“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,” Wong added. 

“Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever.”

US seeks ‘energy dominance’ around the world

The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the US. 

The agency is in charge of maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, oversees 17 national research laboratories and approves natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. 

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It also promotes scientific and technological research.

If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to be interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. 

Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish US “energy dominance” around the world, Trump said.