Chris Wright

Announced as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Energy

Trump announced that Chris Wright, a longtime oil and gas industry executive with no government experience, is his pick for Secretary of Energy. Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, a multi-billion dollar hydraulic fracking company based in Colorado that drills 20% of oil wells nationwide. Wright is a climate change denier, who, in a video posted to his LinkedIn profile, stated: “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either.” In the video he also dismissed the terms “climate crisis,” “energy transition,” “carbon pollution,” “clean energy,” and “dirty energy” as both “deceptive” and “destructive.

Wright is a staunch advocate for increased fossil fuel production and once went as far as to drink fracking fluid on camera in an effort to convince the public of its safety, even though experts say the fluids contain “chemicals that could harm human health and the environment,” including carcinogens. Wright has asserted, “We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods despite endless fear mongering of the media, politicians and activists,” despite the scientific consensus that climate change has and will continue to intensify extreme weather events.

Wright is a critic of climate mitigation efforts. He and his company, Liberty Energy, were among the parties that sued the Securities and Exchange Commission over its climate disclosure rule, and Wright himself testified against the rule before a House committee in April, arguing climate change was not within the SEC’s purview, according to Politico. Wright previously contended, “The only thing resembling a crisis with respect to climate change is the regressive, opportunity-squelching policies justified in the name of climate change.”

Politico reported Wright was a significant donor to the Trump 47 Committee and the RNC this election cycle and caught Trump’s attention at an oil executives fundraiser event in April. That same month, Trump offered oil executives a “deal” at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago. Trump suggested that they should raise $1 billion to return Trump to the White House, and he “vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted.” Additionally, Politico reported Wright’s wife co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump in Montana with Doug Burgum. Pending their confirmations, Wright will sit on the new National Energy Council to be chaired by Burgum.

Wright also serves as a board member at Oklo, a nuclear startup developing micro reactors.

WHAT DOES PROJECT 2025 SAY ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY?

In Project 2025, the Department of Energy chapter (written by Trump Administration official Bernard McNamee) argues that the U.S. should continue to develop new nuclear warheads, reject ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (which prohibits nuclear tests), and prepare to test new nuclear weapons “in response to adversary nuclear developments.” This is in line with the first Trump Administration, which dismantled anti-nuclear commitments including withdrawing from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty and the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, failing to reach an agreement with Russia to extend New START – the only treaty regulating strategic nuclear weapons between U.S. and Russia – and most notably, reneging on the Iran nuclear deal.

Project 2025 also attacks renewable energy policy, “…ideologically driven government policies have thrust the United States into a new energy crisis… The new energy crisis is caused not by a lack of resources, but by extreme “green” policies.” The chapter also advises that the upcoming administration should, “Support [the] repeal of massive spending bills like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which established new programs and are providing hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to renewable energy developers, their investors, and special interests…” and “Eliminate political and climate-change interference in DOE approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.” Other suggestions include eliminating carbon capture and storage programs, eliminating energy efficiency standards for appliances, and eliminating the Office of Clean Energy Demonstration.