President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday selected oil executive Chris Wright to be the next Secretary of the Department of Energy and a member of the newly formed Council of National Energy.
Wright, the CEO of fracking company Liberty Energy, will play a major role in helping Trump follow through on his campaign promise to greatly expand American oil production and drive prices down.
“Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy. He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas. Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics,” Trump said in a statement.
The GOP-controlled Senate is required to confirm Wright before he can assume his post.
“My dedication to bettering human lives remains steadfast, with a focus on making American energy more affordable, reliable, and secure. Energy is the lifeblood that makes everything in life possible. Energy matters. I am looking forward to getting to work,” Wright said in a statement shared on X.
Wright is a strong critic of left-wing policies meant to combat climate change and considers the progressive warning about the environment to be hyperbolic and deceptive. He advocates for “energy sobriety” and an all-of-the-above approach to building out energy sources.
Under President Biden, outgoing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has been a steadfast supporter of shifting the U.S. away from fossil fuels and towards green energy sources. Wright will likely take a much different approach as a skeptic of progressive claims that the U.S. must rapidly move away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
“There is no climate crisis and we are not in the midst of an energy transition either,” Wright said last year in a video posted to LinkedIn, drawing backlash from progressives. “Humans and all complex life on earth is simply impossible without carbon dioxide. Hence the term carbon pollution is outrageous.”
Wright has challenged some of the Biden administration’s climate and regulatory policies. Liberty Energy convinced a federal appeals court to pause the Security and Exchange Commission’s climate disclosure rule earlier this year shortly after it was enacted.
In addition, Wright is board member of Oklo, a nuclear energy startup developing advanced nuclear reactors. Nuclear energy has become popular among Republicans and Democrats alike as a reliable alternative to natural gas.
As a member of the Council of National Energy, Wright will be working with North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R), Trump’s pick to lead the panel. Trump’s plan to increase American oil production was a major promise of his campaign on his way to decisively defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to return to the Oval Office.
Trump is forming the energy panel to oversee every federal agency involved with energy production and distribution. Burgum will be leading the panel while heading the Department of the Interior.