Trump names oil and gas CEO Chris Wright as the next Energy Secretary

In the latest addition to his controversial cabinet, US President-elect Donald Trump named the oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright as the US Secretary of Energy. Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services firm based in Denver, Colorado. The oil mogul is expected to support Trump’s plans to maximize the production of oil and gas to meet electricity needs which rose for the first time in decades.

Many believe Wright will also support Trump’s opposition to global cooperation in fighting climate change. Such assertions are being made because Wright has called climate change activists alarmist and has likened efforts by Democrats to combat global warming to Soviet-style communism.

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“There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either,” Wright said in a video which he shared on LinkedIn last year.

The man with no political experience

It is pertinent to note that Wright does not have any sort of political experience but he has written a lot about the need for more fossil fuel production to lift people out of poverty. He made headlines in 2019 when he drank fracking fluid on camera to demonstrate it was not dangerous.

Interestingly, the US oil output hit the highest level any country has ever produced under President Joe Biden’s administration. It is uncertain exactly how much Wright and the incoming administration could boost that.

However, most drilling decisions are currently driven by private companies working on land not owned by the federal government. The Department of Energy is responsible for handling US energy diplomacy, administers the Strategic Petroleum Reserve – which Trump has said he wants to replenish – and runs grant and loan programs to advance energy technologies, such as the Loan Programs Office.

It is pertinent to note, that the US energy secretary is also responsible for overseeing the US nuclear weapons complex, nuclear energy waste disposal and 17 national labs. If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, Wright will replace Jennifer Granholm, who is a supporter of electric vehicles and emerging energy sources like geothermal power, and a backer of carbon-free wind, solar and nuclear energy.

Power demand in the United States reached its highest level in two decades with many believing happened growth in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and cryptocurrencies.

With inputs from agencies.