Though not a denier of climate change, Wright says the “hazards of climate change are distant and uncertain” and that more fossil fuel production is needed to lift people from poverty.
The Senate confirmed Chris Wright, chief executive officer of onshore oilfield services company Liberty Energy, to serve as U.S. energy secretary.
The Senate approved Wright’s nomination 59-38.
Wright said he wants to grow “all sources of affordable, reliable energy.” He has voiced support for an “all the above” approach to energy, citing the need for natural gas, coal, nuclear, and hydropower as leading current sources of energy, and solar and wind as rapidly growing sources, as well as geothermal.
Wright wrote in a Liberty Energy report last year that while “climate change is a real and global challenge that we can and should address” it should not be the top priority with respect to other threats such as “clean water, air pollution, endemic diseases, and human rights, among others.”
“I am quite passionate about alternative energies and have been my whole life,” Wright said. Liberty Energy is an investor in next-generation geothermal energy, small modular nuclear reactors and sodium-ion battery technology.
Wright has publicly supported more fossil fuel production as a means to address poverty.
“Poverty is a pressing and acute problem today, while the hazards of climate change are distant and uncertain,” Wright’s report said.
Last year, Wright testified at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate change rule, which requires the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, physical risks to climate change and transition risks. Calling the climate rule “unlawful,” Wright said, “These requirements and the special treatment they afford climate change make no sense other than as ‘climate regulation promulgated under the Commission’s seal’.”
“President Trump shares my passion for energy,” Wright said at his confirmation hearing last month.
In 2019, Wright made headlines when he drank fracking fluid on camera to demonstrate it is safe.
Wright is replacing Jennifer Granholm, who was the former Michigan governor prior to taking the position.
