“Chris Wright, An Unapologetic Energy Humanist, Will Be The Next Secretary Of Energy” By ROBERT BRYCE
“For the first time, the DOE will be led by someone from the energy sector.”
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Chris Wright, An Unapologetic Energy Humanist, Will Be The Next Secretary Of Energy
For the first time, the DOE will be led by someone from the energy sector.
NOV 17
It has long been accepted practice in Washington that plum spots in presidential administrations are given to key supporters from selected sectors and influential Wall Street firms. The most obvious example is the revolving door between Goldman Sachs and the Treasury Department.
Steve Mnuchin, a Goldman alum, was Treasury secretary during Donald Trump’s first term. Four other Goldman execs also snagged top spots in the first Trump administration. Two Goldman executives — Robert Rubin and Larry Summers — served as Treasury secretaries under President Bill Clinton. Hank Paulson Jr., another Goldman alum, was Treasury secretary under George W. Bush.
Interior is reserved for a Westerner. Current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is from New Mexico. Her predecessor, David Bernhardt, was from Colorado. His predecessor, Ryan Zinke, was from Montana. Ag Secretary goes to someone in the farm sector, and better yet, from Iowa. That’s why Tom Vilsack, the current Ag Secretary, and former governor of Iowa, has served in that job twice.
Energy-sector expertise has never been a prerequisite for the Secretary of Energy. At least, it hasn’t been until now.
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As I explained in a piece I wrote for The Daily Beast in 2009, “The paved-with-gold revolving door between Wall Street and Washington has been swinging for years, and the Obama administration is no different from any of the crowds before it.” I continued, saying that when it comes to energy policy:
Washington has a completely different standard. Specifically, the US has never had a Secretary of Energy who has actually drilled an oil well, built a nuclear power plant, or dug coal out of the ground. Indeed, actual experience in the energy business appears to be grounds for disqualification. This is stunning. At the same time that the Treasury Department has begun looking like a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs and the other Wall Street mega-firms that are too big to fail, the top leadership at the Department of Energy remains a bastion of anything-but-Big Oil.
I went on:
Jimmy Carter named James Schlesinger — an apparatchik with no history in the energy sector — as the nation’s first Energy secretary. A few years later, Ronald Reagan claimed he was going to dismantle the Department of Energy. His pick for energy secretary was James B. Edwards, a man who understood drilling. He was a dentist.
The current Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, never worked in the energy sector. Her predecessor, Dan Brouillette, made his career as a staffer on Capitol Hill and later as a deputy secretary in the DOE under Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas who headed the DOE under Trump for two years. Before them were two academics, Ernie Moniz and Steve Chu. Before Moniz and Chu, there were a slew of lawyers and one engineer, Sam Bodman, none of whom came from the energy sector.
That history is relevant because it underscores how remarkable it is that Trump has named Chris Wright, the founder and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, an oilfield services company, as his nominee for Secretary of Energy. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Wright is the most qualified person ever named to that position. As Trump explained in his announcement, “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 that in addition to Energy Secretary, Wright will serve on the new Council of National Energy led by Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, who is Trump’s nominee for Interior Secretary.
Before going further, let me be clear, I am not an impartial reporter on this topic. I have known Wright for more than a decade and consider him a friend. He was on the Power Hungry Podcast twice. His first appearance was on September 22, 2020. (See above.) The second was on January 31, 2023. (See below.)
I have interviewed many people over the course of my career. Wright stands out as one of the most energetic, entrepreneurial, and intelligent individuals I’ve ever met. He’s relentlessly curious and innovative. He’s also an unapologetic energy humanist and an unapologetic advocate for energy realism. He is one of the energy sector’s most vocal advocates for domestic energy production and increased energy availability throughout the developing world. Under his leadership, rather than publish a bland ESG report that focuses on reducing emissions, Liberty publishes a “Bettering Human Lives” report. The latest edition is a 180-page document that begins with two declarations: “Energy is essential to life and the world needs more of it.” And “The modern world today is powered by and made of hydrocarbons.”
It's clear that Trump aims to shake up the status quo in Washington. Wright will have his hands full cleaning house at the DOE, an agency that has, under Granholm, been captured by anti-hydrocarbon NGOs and the anti-industry industry.
I’ll end with a couple of quotes I pulled from my talk with Wright on the podcast last year. Propane is his favorite hydrocarbon. I asked him to explain why. He said, “I love propane because it is the answer for two and a half billion people that are cooking today…with wood, dung, agricultural waste. It kills three million people a year...The solution to that problem is a little cookstove and a propane canister...It means cleaner air, longer lifespans...So, the answer [on how] to bring clean hydrocarbons to poor rural areas around the world is propane. That’s why it’s my favorite hydrocarbon.”
Toward the end of the interview, I asked him one of my favorite questions: What gives you hope? He replied with an answer that may be his guiding viewpoint at DOE:
I’m so optimistic positive change can happen... we’re driving the price of energy needlessly up, we’re destabilizing our electricity grid needlessly. These are huge problems. But ultimately, they will be reversed when political aspirations collapse, [when they] collide with physics, physics wins every time and will again here. But you and I, Robert, and so many others have to continue to push that effort, to bring energy sobriety, to try to stop more of this damage before it happens. But I’m optimistic because I believe we will win. We will reverse this damage. But today, yes, there’s a lot of stuff going the wrong direction. But we’re going to stop it and I believe we will.
He's correct. A lot of damage has been done to our electric grid and to America’s energy sector over the past few years. It’s hard to imagine a better repairman than Chris Wright.
Agree, an experienced energy professional will now lead the DOE. Engineers fix problems and don't worry about their social media ratings. There is a glimmer of hope in Washington D.C.