U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republican members at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC, USA on November 13, 2024.
Alison Robert | via Alison RobertReuter
President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that Chris Wright, an oil and gas industry executive who has been a staunch defender of fossil fuel use, will be chosen to lead the Department of Energy.
Mr. Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based oilfield services company. He is expected to support President Trump’s plan to maximize oil and gas production and look for ways to increase electricity generation, which is in high demand for the first time in decades.
He is also likely to share President Trump’s opposition to global cooperation in the fight against climate change. Wright calls climate change activists alarming and likens Democratic efforts to combat global warming to Soviet-style communism.
“There is no climate crisis and we are not in the middle of an energy transition,” Wright said in a video posted to his LinkedIn profile last year.
Mr. Wright has no political experience, but he has written extensively about the need to increase fossil fuel production to lift people out of poverty.
His free-spirited style makes him stand out among oil and gas executives, and he describes himself as a technology geek.
Wright made headlines in 2019 for drinking fracking fluid on camera to prove it was not dangerous.
U.S. oil production reached the highest level ever produced by any country under the Biden administration, but it’s unclear how far Wright and the incoming administration will be able to boost it.
Most drilling decisions are made by private companies operating on land not owned by the federal government.
The Department of Energy is in charge of U.S. energy diplomacy, manages the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which President Trump wants to replenish, and runs grant and loan programs, including the Office of Loan Programs, to advance energy technology.
He also oversees America’s aging nuclear weapons facilities, nuclear energy waste disposal facilities and 17 national laboratories.
If confirmed by the Senate, Wright would replace Jennifer Granholm, a proponent of electric vehicles, emerging energy sources such as geothermal power, and carbon-free wind, solar and nuclear energy.
Mr. Wright is also likely to be involved in power transmission permitting and nuclear power expansion. Nuclear power is a popular energy source with both Republicans and Democrats, but it is expensive and permitting is complicated.
Demand for electricity in the United States is surging for the first time in 20 years, driven by growth in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies.
