Trump's Energy Dept pick wants to develop renewables... and fossil fuels

Donald Trump's nominee for energy secretary, a fracking magnate who has previously expressed climate change skepticism, advocated for renewable energy and referred to the warming planet as a fact Wednesday, while still pushing for increased use of fossil fuels.

Chris Wright made the comments during his hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as part of his confirmation process.

Trump meanwhile bashed a critical source of renewable energy, wind, on his Truth Social platform by stating that wind turbines are "an economic and environmental disaster."

The incoming president has long disdained the technology, cracking jokes at his rallies about wind power, which accounted for more than 10 percent of US energy generation in 2022, according to the Energy Department.

"I don't want even one built during my Administration," Trump wrote.

US states generating the most wind energy are often Republican with Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas at the top of the list.

Wright is a founder of Liberty Energy, which serves the energy companies that have massively increased US fossil fuel production in recent years through fracking -- the extraction of oil and gas from shale fields.

Although he posted on LinkedIn a year ago that the term "climate crisis" was a "destructive deception" and there was "no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy," as of Wednesday he had changed his tune.

Climate change, he told the committee, is "a challenging issue and the solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system."

"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," Wright said.

He mentioned both solar and geothermal energy, as well as nuclear, which is not renewable.

"Energy and climate is a global problem," Wright said, adding, "I think President Trump is firmly aligned with that position as well."

Trump ran for office on a platform favoring the growth of US energy production, including fossil fuels.

Wright in particular has advocated for the construction of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

In January 2024, US President Joe Biden declared a moratorium on their construction, citing the threat to climate.

Fossil fuels, Wright said, have "fallen out of fashion and out of favor," and he added that "there's been less interest to invest in it."

"I don't share those aversions. I'm all about new technology to improve energy sources across the board," he said.

© Agence France-Presse