Donald Trump rewarded the tycoons behind the shale boom, among his most ardent supporters, with the selection Saturday of Chris Wright as his nominee for Energy Secretary.
Wright was front-and-center for the fracking revolution that reshaped the country as a band of scrappy wildcatters that reinvigorated U.S. oil and gas production to record heights. His $2.8 billion company, Liberty Energy, pumps water and sand underground to frack customers’ wells.
Wright’s selection elevates a pugnacious branch of the oil-and-gas industry that is skeptical of climate-change science and mostly hasn’t pledged to build out low-carbon energy businesses, unlike giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron .
In recent years, the outspoken and combative chief executive emerged as an oil-and gas champion , as Wright touted the benefits of fossil fuels to improve the wealth, health and life opportunities of most of the world population. He has said renewable energy can’t replace many of the functions fulfilled by hydrocarbons.
After the clothing brand North Face declined to sell jackets to an oil-and-gas company with that firm’s logo added to them, Wright rented billboards in and around Denver that said, “That North Face Puffer looks great on you. And it was made from fossil fuels.”
Liberty published a 180-page report in which Wright criticizes what he considers to be “a myopic focus on climate change and climate politics.” Those views have made him a darling among his peers and on the conservative speaking circuit.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal before the election, Wright denounced the “hyper-politicization of energy” and singled out Democrats, saying “they called a war on climate change, making it hard to produce oil and gas.”
If confirmed as the head of the Energy Department, Wright, a Washington outsider now based in Denver, will oversee a sprawling agency that safeguards the country’s nuclear arsenal and directs federal research on energy technologies.
Trump said that in addition to heading the Energy Department, Wright would be a member of his newly formed National Energy Council. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum , another staunch Trump supporter hailing from a shale state, was nominated to lead the Interior Department last week and will chair the council.
“Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence,” Trump said Saturday.
Wright’s ascension culminates a push by oil wildcatters, who run smaller and often privately held companies, into Trump’s political ranks. Billionaire oilmen donated millions to the president-elect’s campaign , and were among his most prolific backers in any industry. Wright and his wife together contributed more than $540,000 to Trump’s re-election effort.
These oil donors mostly share Trump’s skepticism about the scientific consensus showing mankind’s contribution to climate change. They are pushing for the incoming administration to dial back enforcement of environmental rules they say are too onerous for their businesses
Many of these executives say they are against policies that U.S. energy companies such as Exxon, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum support. They mostly oppose their bigger competitors’ advocacy for tax credits for capturing carbon and other emission-curbing technology, as well as methane regulations they say could hamper oil and gas production.
Last week, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in an interview that Trump should keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement , accentuating policy differences between the major oil companies and Trump. The president-elect will almost certainly pull the U.S. from the accords for a second time.
The Energy Department was a linchpin of President Biden’s strategy to address climate change, notably its Loan Programs Office , which has financed businesses important to the country’s energy transition. Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, multiplied the office’s lending capacity by 10-fold. Trump has said he would seek to rescind unspent funds provided by the law.
Wright caught Trump’s attention at an April meeting of oil bosses at Mar-a-Lago. After he presented his views to Trump, the president-elect said the executive could become his energy secretary, the Journal previously reported.
Wright has a powerful ally in Harold Hamm , the billionaire founder of Continental Resources and one of Trump’s most influential oil backers. Hamm is advising Trump’s transition team on energy personnel and policy, according to people familiar with the matter. He publicly encouraged Trump to make Wright his pick.
About two years ago, Hamm asked Wright to join his lobbying group, the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, which has frequently questioned climate science. Wright joined the lobby, where he serves as a director.
“We think a lot alike on the climate issues and the reality of fossil fuels, oil and gas, in our lives,” said Jerry Simmons, CEO of the group.
While the energy department doesn’t regulate fossil-fuel production, one of its prerogatives is approving most exports of liquefied natural gas. Oil and gas donors have pressed Trump to lift a pause Biden declared on new LNG exports earlier this year, a move Wright is almost certain to implement.
Wright is a self-described nerd who studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before founding Liberty in 2011. He has frequently appeared on cable news programs, defending the oil industry against perceived enemies.
“He’ll be a strong advocate for independent producers and the perspective of the traditional oil patch,” said Thomas Pyle , president of the industry trade group American Energy Alliance, who was on Trump’s energy transition team in 2016. “That’s his home, that’s where he’s from.”
In a video uploaded to LinkedIn last year, Wright said he believes that “there is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.”
When LinkedIn took down the 12-minute video, Wright criticized the company on an earnings call with investors, saying he found it “alarming that a Microsoft -owned business is actively working to protect a false and destructive meme about energy and climate.”
Wright appealed the decision, and LinkedIn eventually informed him that it had concluded that his post didn’t actually go against its policies. It restored the video.
Write to Benoît Morenne at benoit.morenne@wsj.com and Collin Eaton at collin.eaton@wsj.com
