Trump’s energy secretary nominee faces questions over climate posts and LA fires

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Who: Chris Wright

Nominated for: Secretary of Energy

You might know them from: Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based oil and gas company.

• He has a background in oil and gas, as well as geothermal, nuclear, and solar energy.
• He has a long history developing technologies for fracking, a type of oil and gas extraction.
• Some of his past online posts about climate change have contradicted the scientific consensus, including a video where he said, inaccurately, that global warming did not make more intense hurricanes, droughts and floods.

What does this role do: The secretary of energy manages 17 national laboratories that conduct a wide array of research, including in renewable energy. The agency also maintains nuclear weapons.

Here’s what happened at the hearing

Wright is a fossil fuel executive, and at the confirmation hearing, he pledged to support all forms of “reliable” energy – including solar, wind, nuclear and geothermal.

But Wright’s past social media posts drew controversy. In a 2023 Linkedin post he wrote, “The hype over wildfires is just hype to justify more impoverishment from bad government policies.”

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California questioned Wright specifically over this post, referring to the Los Angeles fires. Padilla is from Los Angeles. “Given the devastation that we’re currently experiencing in Los Angeles, do you still believe that wildfires are just hype?” Padilla asked.

Wright said he has watched the fires with “sorrow and fear” and added when pressed by Padilla, “I stand by my past comment.”

A recent analysis by scientists at UCLA found that climate change made the region’s vegetation roughly 25 percent drier prior to the fires, boosting the chances of intense, fast moving blazes.

Climate change and the Los Angeles fires

While the senators’ questioning was mostly cordial, at least half a dozen climate activists spoke out during the hearings.

“The climate crisis is here, L.A. is burning, it is because of fossil fuel companies,” one activist shouted.

In response to questions from Sen. Angus King, independent from Maine, Wright confirmed that he accepts the scientific consensus that the primary driver of global warming is burning fossil fuels.

“Mostly from the combustion of hydrocarbons to enable our modern world, we’ve increased atmospheric CO2 concentration… [making] it harder for the Earth to shed heat,” Wright said.

Wright told Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado that climate change “is a global issue. It is a real issue. It’s a challenging issue. And the solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system.”

Wright added, “Are there things we can do, investments together through the Department of Energy to accelerate development of new energy technologies that are really the only pathway to address climate change? Absolutely.”

“Affordable, reliable” energy

Several times Wright said he would support “affordable, reliable” energy. The phrase “reliable energy” can sometimes be a dig at solar and wind energy, as the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. Renewable researchers point to the fact that this is being addressed with huge batteries that store energy.

Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, questioned Wright’s views on solar energy in particular, as Nevada is a state with a large solar industry.

Wright expressed his enthusiasm for solar energy. “I worked in solar energy,” Wright said. “We’re seeing a lot of growth in solar energy, and I expect that to continue.”

Wright also said he supported expanding energy production in nuclear and geothermal energy, and expanding fossil fuel energies like liquified natural gas.

The question of research and censorship

Padilla also asked Wright if he would commit to not censoring the Energy Department’s research.

“I will follow the scientific method,” Wright said. “I will follow the laws and statutes of our country, of course I will, Senator.”