Energy independence group hails Trump cabinet picks

A group that advocates for American energy independence is applauding President Donald Trump's recent cabinet selections, including Saturday's nomination of Chris Wright as Energy Secretary.

Environmental advocates, on the other hand, criticized the selection.

Wright is founder, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based oilfield services company that specializes in fracking.

"Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy," Trump said in a statement accompanying his nomination annoucement. "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."

Trump said Wright also would join his new Council of National Energy, which "will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy. 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."

In response, Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, said Wright's selection, along with Noth Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's nomination as secretary of the Interior and former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin's nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, will unleash "American energy dominance."

“Alongside Doug Burgum and Lee Zeldin, Chris Wright completes a powerful trifecta of accomplished and experienced individuals poised to deliver American energy dominance, Turner said in a statement. "Having spent more than three decades as a leading innovator in the oil and gas industry, Mr. Wright understands that American resources can and should be developed responsibly and affordably here at home. Fulfilling the campaign promises to lower costs, ease inflation and make our country more secure starts by reversing the failed Biden-Harris energy policy, and with his early Cabinet choices, President-elect Trump is off to a strong start.”

Power The Future is a non-profit that advocates for American energy workers. It has been critical of the Biden administration's push for renewable energy initiatives at the expense of the oil and gas industry.

Wright, like Trump an advocate for more oil and gas drilling, is skeptical there is a climate crisis.

"There is no climate crisis, and we're not in the midst of an energy transition either," Wright said in a video posted to LinkedIn.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, criticized the selection.

"Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE's core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever," the council told NPR. "Putting a champion of dirty fossil fuels in as the leader of the department would be a disastrous mistake."