Where Chris Wright, Trump's energy secretary pick, stands on climate change
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Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy. Photo courtesy of Colorado Business Roundtable
Chris Wright, a Denver energy company executive who denies that climate change is a pressing threat, is President-elect Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy.
Why it matters: If confirmed, the appointment puts Wright — an evangelist for the oil and gas industry and decreased regulation — in a position to expand production and redirect billions in climate and energy-related spending from the Inflation Reduction Act.
State of play: Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking services company with 2,000 employees. He sits on the boards of modular nuclear reactor company Oklo Inc. and global mining company EMX Royalty Corp.
- The Denver native and Trump campaign donor has no prior government experience and is unknown in Washington, D.C. His name was pushed by Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire oil man playing a role in Trump's transition efforts.
- In his announcement, Trump lauded Wright's role in helping "launch the American shale revolution."
What they're saying: The oil and gas industry and allies celebrated the appointment.
- "His practical, all-of-the-above approach to advancing clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions will be instrumental in shaping the future of our nation's energy policy," Debbie Brown, president of the Colorado Business Roundtable, said in a statement.
The intrigue: In a Business Roundtable event two weeks before the election, Wright called oil and gas critics "nuts," adding that "there's no dirty energy, there's no clean energy, there's no good stuff, there's no bad stuff. Everything has tradeoffs."
- Wright downplayed the importance of renewable energy sources but sounded bullish on nuclear, saying it should go from 4% of energy production to 10%.
Between the lines: In various statements, Wright has either rejected the idea of a climate crisis or downplayed its importance, contrary to most of the scientific community.
In his annual Bettering Human Lives report, Wright acknowledges it is real but calls it merely a "challenge" and "far from the world's greatest threat to human life."
- "This is a real background phenomenon, but it's just wildly misrepresented for political and media and all sorts of other reasons, and that gets in the way of things," he said at the Oct. 23 Business Roundtable event.
Likewise, he called net-zero emissions pledges "silly" and "hopelessly destructive" because of the costs that come with cleaner energy sources.
On regulation, Wright called for a "sensible" approach but believes Colorado's strictest-in-the-nation rules on oil and gas are "off the rails."
- He has previously blamed the fracking industry for creating a "paranoia" about hydraulic drilling because it resisted disclosure of fracking chemicals. To prove their safety, he once drank fracking fluid on camera.
The other side: Wright's appointment drew immediate opposition from environmental groups.
- "It is not surprising, but still appalling that Trump's pick for Secretary of Energy is a climate-denying Big Oil executive," League of Conservation Voters' Tiernan Sittenfeld said in a statement.
- "With no experience in government, Wright will be primed to continue Trump's and Project 2025's extreme agenda of prioritizing big polluters over our families, communities, consumers, and the environment."