Trump’s Energy Secretary Pick Cheered by Environmental Group

At least one conservationist group has applauded President-elect Donald Trump for nominating oil executive Chris Wright for energy secretary, highlighting comments he made at a climate action summit in 2023.
Trump has faced days of turmoil after naming a number of controversial picks for the Cabinet of his upcoming administration.
Allegations against his defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, and the Congressional tug-of-war over whether to release an ethics report that investigated alleged drug use and sexual misdemeanors committed by his Attorney General pick, Matt Gaetz, have already caused a headache for the Trump camp.
Trump picked Wright reportedly at the behest of oil executive Harold Hamm, who has advised the president-elect on energy issues.
“Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy,” the Trump campaign wrote in its announcement of the nomination. “He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas. 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.”
As the CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy, Wright’s nomination is likely to rile up progressives and Left-Wing politicians. However, Wright’s addition has already drawn praise from at least one conservationist group.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign by email on Saturday evening for comment.
The conservative American Conservation Coalition Eastern Regional Director Brian Martinez posted a video on social media platform X in which Wright expressed his views on climate change and the significant role energy plays in price fluctuations on everyday products such as food.
“Chris Wright will be an incredible Energy Secretary. He gave these remarks at ACC Action’s summit in Salt Lake City last year,” Martinez wrote.
In the clip, Wright says, “When we make energy more expensive, we make it harder for low-income people to satisfy their basic needs, to heat their home – what’s the biggest cost of food? Energy: The energy to power tractors, the energy to make fertilizers, energy to move it to market, energy to power distribution.”
“I’ve been a lifelong environmentalist. Climate change is a real problem and I’ve been speaking on it for 20 years, and we can make progress with that,” Wright said.
CNN criticized the appointment, noting that in a 2023 interview with CNBC, Wright stressed the heavy reliance the world has on fossil fuels and that trying to transition away from them in a decade was an “absurd time frame.”
The outlet also highlighted that while Wright has discussed his concern about climate change, he has expressed doubt about the link with more severe weather crises.
Politico raised doubts about the impact Wright would make on climate change, arguing instead that he would prove “one of the loudest voices in the administration against measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.”
The Trump campaign highlighted Wright’s work with North Dakota Governor Dough Burgum, whom Trump nominated for Secretary of the Interior, which the president-elect believes will help with the effectiveness of the newly announced Council of National Energy.
“The Council of National Energy will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy,” Trump said in his statement to the press.
“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” he said.