Trump's energy secretary pick pledges to restore US 'energy dominance'

WASHINGTON

US President-elect Donald Trump's energy secretary pick on Wednesday pledged to focus on what he called restoring US energy dominance.

“President Trump shares my passion for energy, and if confirmed, I will work tirelessly to implement his bold agenda as an unabashed steward for all sources of affordable, reliable, and secure American energy,” Chris Wright told the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee at his confirmation hearings.

Wright said that if confirmed, he would focus his attention on three immediate priorities. “The first is to unleash American energy at home and abroad to restore our energy dominance.”

“The security of our nation begins with energy,” said Wright.

“Previous administrations have viewed energy as a liability instead of the immense national asset that it is,” he said.

“To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans,” he stressed.

Wright’s second priority is for the US to “lead the world in innovation and technological breakthroughs.”

“Throughout my lifetime, technology and innovation have immeasurably enhanced the human condition,” he noted. “We must protect and accelerate the work of the department's National Laboratory network to secure America's competitive advantage and its security.”

Offshore drilling

The Liberty Energy CEO’s third priority, he said, is to “build things in America again and remove barriers to progress.”

“Federal policies today make it too easy to stop projects and very hard to start and complete projects. This makes energy more expensive and less reliable,” he added.

Incoming President Trump is “committed to lowering energy costs, and to do so, we must prioritize cutting red tape, enabling the private sector investments, and building the infrastructure we need to make energy more affordable for families and businesses,” he said.

Earlier this month, outgoing US President Joe Biden announced that he is moving to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most US coastlines, but Trump vowed to quickly reverse this.

"Banning offshore drilling will not stand. I will reverse it immediately," Trump said.

Republicans have claimed that Biden slowed oil production in the US. According to the latest official figures, US oil production last October was 13.5 million barrels per day (bpd), up from from 11.1 bpd in January 2021, the last month of Trump’s first term in office.

Last November, Trump announced that he had chosen Wright to be US energy secretary.

Wright, who is also a donor to Trump's campaign, leads Liberty Energy, a company that provides services and technology to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies operating onshore.

In a 2023 video posted on LinkedIn, Wright said: “There is no climate crisis, and we're not in the midst of an energy transition either.”

*Writing by Handan Kazanci in Istanbul