Chris Wright is giving an absolute masterclass in this hearing.
I've never heard a nominee for DOE talk so seamlessly about energy, climate, science, innovation, etc.
Despite the climate protestors, even the Dem Senators loved him!pic.twitter.com/HtynZVTYhS
— Christopher Barnard (@ChrisBarnardDL) January 15, 2025
WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Energy Department, told U.S. senators in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday his first priority is expanding domestic energy production including liquefied natural gas and nuclear power.
Wright, 60, believes fossil fuels are the key to ending world poverty, which is a greater problem than climate change’s “distant” threat, according to a report he wrote as CEO of oilfield services company Liberty Energy.
The hearing was briefly stopped several times by protesters with at least one shouting about the deadly fires in Los Angeles and the role fossil fuels play in global warming.
Wright supports some fossil fuel alternatives, such as small nuclear power reactors, which are not yet commercially available, and geothermal power. But he has criticized solar and wind power as insufficient.
“Previous administrations have viewed energy as a liability instead of the immense national asset that it is,” Wright told the Senate energy committee.
“To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans.”
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, a super-chilled exportable form of natural gas, hit a record in 2023 thanks to the shale boom. The U.S. now produces oil and gas at a higher rate than any other country ever has.
Wright, an engineer who studied fusion energy, is expected to win a majority in the 100-member Senate, now controlled by Republicans, and will step down from Liberty once confirmed.
