Senate confirms Chris Wright, a fracking executive, as Trump's Energy Secretary
The U.S. Senate confirmed Chris Wright as President Donald Trump's Energy Secretary on Monday. Wright is a fracking executive.
Seven Democrats and an Independent who caucuses alongside Democrats crossed the aisle.
Wright, 60 years old, has been the CEO of Liberty Energy, since 2011. He announced that he would step down as soon as the confirmation was received. In a Liberty Energy report published last year, he wrote that he believed climate change caused by humans is real but its dangers are "distant" and "uncertain." He also stated that government policies to combat climate change are doomed to failure.
Wright will oversee an agency with a budget of around $50 billion. Around half of that money goes to maintaining the nuclear arsenal of the country.
In addition, he will be responsible for the 17 national laboratories of the Department that are involved in everything from fusion energy research to supercomputing. Wright stated that his top priority in his nomination hearing was to increase domestic energy production, including liquefied gas, an exportable fuel super-cooled, and nuclear power.
In 2023, the U.S. was the top exporter of LNG in the world. By the end the decade, shipments may have doubled. Wright and Lee Zeldin will likely dismantle some of former president Joe Biden's policies on climate change and push to build more fossil fuel infrastructure, including power plants and gas pipelines. Wright said that the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles were "heartbreaking" in his hearing, but he stood behind his comments in 2023 on social media that "hype about wildfires is only hype to justify policies to curb climate changes." Wright is expected play a major role in the new national energy dominance Council, which will be headed by Doug Burgum, the former North Dakota governor who is expected by the Senate confirmation to lead the Department of the Interior. The council will seek to implement policies that maximize oil and gas production, even though the U.S. already ranks as the largest producer in the world. It is also unclear how many more drilling companies are willing to do on federal land. Wright will be responsible for managing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - the world's biggest crude oil stockpile. Biden sold a record 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 2022, to balance rising gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The sale brought the reserve down to its lowest point in 40 years. Trump has promised to fill up the SPR until the top. However, this will require Congress to appropriate the funds. If it is filled quickly, oil prices could rise.
Wright, like his predecessor Jennifer Granholm believes that geothermal energy has the potential to provide emissions-free electricity in the U.S. by tapping into heat beneath the ground.
However, geothermal projects will require greater access to transmission lines. Congress has not passed legislation that would fund the new transmission lines needed for renewable energy and geothermal projects.
Wright, like Granholm supports the expansion of nuclear power. Wright was on the board of Oklo, a small modular reactor startup that hasn't yet built a plant. Wright is also likely to be asked to help the U.S. develop a uranium supply chain after Biden banned imports of Russian enriched uranium.
(source: Reuters)
