Trump Appoints Fracking CEO Chris Wright to Lead Energy Department
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
President-elect Donald Trump named Chris Wright, a campaign donor and chief executive of Liberty Energy, to lead the Department of Energy.
Wright is a vocal advocate of fracking along with oil and gas development in the United States. One of Trump’s top campaign promises was to lower gas by making the U.S. energy independent. He also serves on Trump’s newly formed Council of National Energy.
The nomination faced immediate pushback and criticism from Democrats and the left, including the New York Times, which referred to Wright as a “TV-ready evangelist for fossil fuels who lacks government experience” on Saturday.
“Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy. He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas,” Trump wrote in a statement on Saturday.
Trump nominates oil exec Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy. Nuclear tidbit — Wright is on the board of advanced nuclear tech company Oklo. pic.twitter.com/KoWO1R3Pbz
— Benjamin S. Weiss (@BenjaminSWeiss) November 16, 2024
Trump added, “Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.”
He also sits on the board of a modular nuclear reactor company and has spoken positively about utilizing nuclear energy, according to CNN.
The Energy Department that Wright will potentially oversee includes the National Nuclear Security Administration where the U.S. maintains its nuclear stockpile.
