President-elect Donald Trump has announced Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, the world’s second-largest provider of hydraulic fracturing services, as his nominee for secretary of energy. If confirmed, under Wright’s leadership, the Department of Energy is likely to adopt a much different approach to policy when compared to the previous four years.
“There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either,” Wright said. “The only thing resembling a crisis with respect to climate change is the regressive opportunity squelching policies justified in the name of climate change.”
Wright’s career has spanned various energy sectors, including nuclear power, solar energy, geothermal energy and, most recently, oil and gas. In discussing his outlook on energy, the fossil fuel executive has stated that he does not “care where energy comes from” so long as it “is secure, reliable, affordable and betters human lives.″
“There is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy. All energy sources have impacts on the world, both positive and negative,” Wright said. “Credible, honest dialog is sadly lacking in today’s discourse. These five terms, climate crisis, energy transition, carbon pollution, clean energy and dirty energy, are not only deceptive, they are in fact destructive.”
Wright has said that while he does not dispute the existence of climate change, the measures aimed at addressing it are “misguided and alarmist.” This opinion on climate policy falls in line with the Trump administration, which has signaled plans to reverse several renewable energy initiatives implemented during the Biden presidency.
“These policies have driven up energy prices, destabilized electrical grids and displaced high paying energy intensive jobs to other countries and states without these perverse energy policies,” Wright said of recent Biden-era climate actions. “No, these policies have not meaningfully reduced global greenhouse gas emissions. Simply moving emissions or jobs from the U.S. or U.K. to China or Vietnam is not a reduction in emissions.”
The Trump White House is expected to attempt to rescind unspent climate funds from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, rollback incentives for electric vehicle adoption, resume U.S. natural gas exports, and ease emissions regulations on coal plants. Wright is now set to potentially play a key role in implementing these changes as part of the new administration’s National Energy Council.
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