Chris Wright is an energy and climate pragmatist

Published January 15, 2025 6:00am ET



It is a big week for Senate confirmation hearings. On Wednesday, Chris Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy and nominee for secretary of the Energy Department, will get his turn in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Unfortunately, if the hyperventilating statements from many environmental groups are any indication, it is likely to be a contentious, and not particularly productive, affair.

On the same day President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Wright, the Sierra Club executive director blasted out a statement labeling him “utterly unqualified,” “a climate denier,” and “a direct threat to our future and the planet’s.” An executive at the Natural Resources Defense Council reportedly called Wright’s nomination “a disastrous mistake.” 

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