Trump picks fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President-elect Donald Trump has chosen campaign donor and fossil fuel executive Chris Wright to serve as energy secretary in his next, second administration.

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a strong advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump's quest to achieve 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 swift action to end a year-long hiatus on the Biden administration's natural gas export approvals.

Frequently criticizing what he calls a top-down approach to climate taken by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement across the world is collapsing under its own weight. He never served in government, but wrote that more fossil fuel production was needed around the world to lift people out of poverty.

Wright's bid to lead the administration's Energy Department gained support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas magnate Harold Hamm.

Hamm, executive chairman of Continental Resources, a major Oklahoma-based shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and advisor who played a key role on energy issues during Trump's first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in April, during which Trump reportedly asked industry executives and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump's campaign, hoping that Trump would cut environmental regulations if re-elected.

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Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's leading lobbying group, said Wright's experience in the energy sector gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership of the department of Energy.

“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to strengthen American geopolitical strength by lifting the DOE pause on LNG export permits and ensuring free access to American energy for our allies around the world,” Sommers said.

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 Department of Energy was a disastrous mistake.

The Energy Ministry should do everything in its power to develop and expand 21st century energy sources, without trying to promote dirty fuels from the last century, Wong said. Given the devastating impacts of climate-driven disasters, DOE's core mission to research and promote cleaner energy solutions is more important than ever.

The Department of Energy is responsible for advancing 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 and approving natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the country's nuclear weapons complex. It also 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 promised bold choices for his Cabinet and that Wright's nomination delivered on those promises.

He's an energy innovator who laid the groundwork for America's fracking boom. After four years of America's latest energy policy, our country desperately needs a secretary who understands the importance of American energy to our economy and national security, Barrasso said.

If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump's pick to be Interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish U.S. energy dominance around the world, Trump said.

Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be an excellent choice for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump's Energy Department transition team in 2016.

Liberty is a leading technology-driven service provider to the energy sector. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned an undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in 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 president of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.

The announcement of Wright's selection comes hours after a key Trump ally, billionaire Elon Musk, called for more direct public input in the decision-making process for another important position the president-elect is mulling again, that of head of the Treasury Department of his new administration. .

It would be interesting to hear more people speak out on this topic for @realDonaldTrump to take on board the comments, Musk said, which Trump has already tapped to co-lead a commission charged with increasing the efficiency of government spending, posted on Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.

Musk used the remainder of his position to become the first participant in the public poll he proposed, supporting Howard Lutnick, CEO of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chairman of Trump's transition team, rather than the manager of hedge fund Scott Bessent.

Musk said in his post that Bessent was a status quo choice, while @howardlutnick would actually embrace change.

The status quo is bankrupting America, so we need change, he said.

Lutnick and Bessent have been mentioned as possible choices to lead the Treasury Department. Bessent is considered the most conventional and business-friendly choice. He is skeptical of cryptocurrency, while Lutnick suggested it could be used by people to pay their taxes.

Trump's pick to lead his Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also backed 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.

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