Trump picks Colorado oil and gas executive to lead Energy Department

A fracking site in Greeley, Colorado, is pictured on June 24, 2020. (Andy Bosselman for Newsline)

Republican President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he wants Chris Wright, a Colorado oil and gas executive who denies that the world faces a “climate crisis,” to serve the new administration as Department of Energy secretary.

Wright will also be a member of the Council of National Energy, the formation of which was announced Friday. Details on the council are scarce, but it’s widely viewed as a further indication that the Trump administration intends to boost domestic fossil fuel and other energy production.

“Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace,’” a statement from the Trump transition team said.

The Energy Department oversees the nation’s nuclear infrastructure and energy policy. Wright, who grew up and still lives in Colorado, is the founder, CEO, and board chair of Liberty Energy, based in Denver.

Last year in a video he posted to LinkedIn, Wright dismissed phrases such as “climate crisis,” “energy transition” and “clean energy” as “alarmist, deceptive marketing terms.” He acknowledged that global warming has occurred, but he chafed at its characterization as a crisis.

“The only thing resembling a crisis with respect to climate change is the regressive, opportunity-squelching policies justified in the name of climate change,” he said in the video.

He suggested that any warming attributable to the burning of fossil fuels is worth the benefits, such as “wealth, health and opportunity,” that fossil fuel energy brings.

He spread misinformation in the video.

“We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods despite endless fearmongering of the media, politicians and activists. This is not my opinion. This is the facts as contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports,” he said.

IPCC reports actually say the opposite.

“Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has further strengthened since (the previous report cycle),” the IPCC’s 2023 “synthesis” report says. “Human influence has likely increased the chance of compound extreme events since the 1950s, including increases in the frequency of concurrent heatwaves and droughts.”

Wright’s views directly contradict the Energy Department’s climate change mission under Democratic President Joe Biden.

“There is no greater challenge facing our nation and our planet than the climate crisis,” the department’s website says.

Wright’s nomination is one of several made by Trump — such as that of former Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to be attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health and Human Services — that appear intentionally disruptive.

“Picking someone like Chris Wright is a clear sign that Trump wants to turn the U.S. into a pariah petrostate,” Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program, said in a statement. “He’s damning frontline communities and our planet to climate hell just to pad the already bloated pockets of fossil fuel tycoons.”

Biden’s Department of Energy secretary is Jennifer Granholm, former Democratic Michigan governor.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and X.

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