The Senate confirmed that Chris Wright was led by the US Ministry of Energy on Monday, which placed former Oil Executive Director in a key position to help the President Trump’s energy policy.
Mr. Wright, founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, Fracking company, was confirmed by a vote from 59 to 38, with the support of all Republicans present and a smaller number of Democrats. Would be the 17th Energy Secretary, a position created in 1977.
To his hearingMr. Wright said his main priority was to “release” homemade energy production, including liquefied natural gas and nuclear energy. He also told Democrats that he believed that climate change was a “global challenge we needed to solve” and to support the development of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy.
At the same time, Mr. Wright said he would “work tirelessly” in support of Mr. Trump’s energy agenda. The president has often rejected climate change as a fraud, belittled wind and solar energy, and said he wanted to expand the use of oil, gas and coal, whose burning had moved climate change.
The energy department plays a central role in the development of new energy technologies. The agency monitors a Network of 17 national laboratories conducted by top research as ia a powerful loan This supported dozens of energy projects with a low carbon share, including batteries factories in Ohi and Tennessee and two giant nuclear reactors in Georgia.
Mr. Wright would also oversee the approval of the applied export export terminal, which the Bidel administration tried to slow down, angry industrial groups. Mr. Trump has already ordered an energy department to restart the examinations of the proposed export facilities.
The energy department is a spacious agency. About 80 percent of the departments $ 52 billion annual budget It goes to maintaining the nuclear arsenal of the nation, cleaning of clutter in the Cold War and conducting research in areas such as high -energy physics.
According to the Administration of Biden, the department aggressively supported new pure energy technologies like Advanced nuclear energy,, improved geothermal energy,, Green hydrogen fuel,, Next generation batteries And more. Assisted by a new financing of Congress, issued dozens of billions of loans and scholarships to all of Companies make cement with low carbon Power to companies Construction of new portable lines.
At a certificate hearing, Mr. Wright has mostly refused to go into detail about how he will lead the department.
Some conservative groups called Mr. Wright to divert or even close the agency Loan Programs Officewhich the Congress gave about $ 400 billion with a loan to bring promising energy technology to the market. According to the Administration of Biden, the office has completed more than $ 60.6 billion of loans and loan guarantees by companies that have mocked the lithium, restarting a closed nuclear plant, turning the wind and solar energy into hydrogen fuel and more. He also issued $ 47 billion in conditional loans that were not completed.
From January 17th there were still 160 companies looking for more than $ 200 billion of loans and loan guarantees. But the work of the Loan Office has mostly paused since Mr. Trump took the post, and it is unclear what will happen to these applications.
Most of the main environmental groups and many Democrats opposed Mr. Wright, saying that he had reduced the risks of the heating planet. In the post on social media in 2023, Mr. Wright wrote“No climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy crossing.” Last year, he said that climate change would now have a “slow, modest influence of two or three generations.”
On the subcasties and in the speeches Mr. Wright has often made a The moral case of fossil fuelsclaiming that the poorest people in the world need access to oil, gas and coal to enjoy the benefits of modern life that take a healthy nation for granted.
However, some Democrats of Senate joined the Republicans in voting to approve of Mr. Wright nomination. They included Ruben Gallego from Arizona, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich of Novi Mexico, as well as Angus King, regardless of Maine who are usually with democrats.
“Although I do not agree with Mr. Wright about numerous issues, he has committed to working with us in good faith” about issues such as investing in national laboratories and the construction of the transmission lines of Dalekovods, said Mr. Heinrich last month.
Mr. Wright graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from solar energy from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which created software for measuring motion of fluid below the Earth’s surface. The software has helped to achieve a revolution of the commercial revolution.
Mr. Wright started Liberty Energy in 2011, and the company collaborated with others on geothermal energy and small, modular nuclear reactors.
Mr. Wright holds 2.6 million shares in a company, which were worth approximately $ 47 million based on the price of the last section on Monday. In a written statement of the Senate He promised to deviate from Liberty Energy to take away their stakes within 90 days after they had confirmed it. According to his ethical agreement, he It is scheduled to pay His last bonus from the company in March.
Lisa Friedman contribute to reporting.
