PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has picked Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to be energy secretary in his incoming second administration.
Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal supporter of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s push for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to combat climate change and could provide a boost to fossil fuels, including quick action to end a year-long pause on permits for natural gas exports by the Biden administration.
Wright frequently criticizes liberal and left-wing groups’ “top-down” approach to climate, arguing that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that the world needs to produce more fossil fuels to lift people out of poverty.
The idea of considering Wright to head the government’s energy department found support among influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, chief executive of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign in anticipation that Trump would win if re-elected would restrict environmental regulations.
Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s main lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership” at the Energy Department.
“We look forward to working with him once he is confirmed to strengthen America’s geopolitical strength by lifting the DOE’s pause on LNG export permits and ensuring open access to American energy for our allies around the world.” said Sommers.
Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels” and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a catastrophic mistake.”
“The Department of Energy should do everything in its power to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not seek to promote the dirty fuels of the last century,” Wong said. “Given the devastating impacts of climate-related disasters, DOE’s core mission to explore and promote cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever.”
The Department of Energy is responsible for promoting the energy, environmental, and nuclear security of the United States. The agency is responsible for maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, overseeing 17 national research laboratories, approving natural gas exports and providing environmental cleanup of the country’s nuclear weapons sophisticated. In addition, it promotes scientific and technological research.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump had promised bold choices for his Cabinet and Wright’s nomination was successful.
“He is an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. “After four years of recent American energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,” Barrasso said.
If confirmed, Wright will play a key role in energy policy alongside North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee for Interior secretary, in a second Trump term. Wright will serve on a modern National Energy Council, which Burgum will chair. The modern body will try to establish US “energy dominance” worldwide, Trump said.
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright was “an excellent choice” for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department transition team in 2016.
Liberty is a major service provider to the energy industry with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned a bachelor’s degree from MIT and studied electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.
The announcement of Wright’s pick came hours after a key Trump ally, billionaire Elon Musk, called for more direct public involvement in the decision-making process for another top post the president-elect is still considering: head of the Treasury Department in his modern administration .
“It would be interesting to hear more people comment on this so that @realDonaldTrump takes the feedback into account,” Musk, whom Trump has already named to co-head a commission tasked with increasing the efficiency of government spending, posted on Saturday on the social media platform he owns, X.
Musk used the rest of his post to become the first participant in his proposed public poll, endorsing Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
Musk said in his post: “Bessent is a decision as usual while @howardlutnick will actually make change happen.”
“Continuing business as usual is bankrupting America, so we need change,” he said.
Both Lutnick and Bessent have been mentioned as possible candidates to lead the Treasury Department. Bessent is considered the more conventional, business-friendly choice. He is skeptical of cryptocurrencies, while Lutnick has suggested that people could apply them to pay their taxes.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead his Health and Human Services Department, also endorsed Lutnick, posting on his own X account: “Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle-class Americans.”
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Daly and Long reported from Washington.
