1 week Ago By Bob Cronin
President-elect Trump on Saturday announced he's chosen campaign donor and fracking company CEO Chris Wright for the top job at the Department of Energy. Wright, who runs Liberty Energy, also will be a member of Trump's planned Council of National Energy, reports. The chair of that body is to be Doug Burgum, the nominee for Interior secretary.
Trump called Wright "a leading technologist and entrepreneur" in his statement. He's been a leading advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, per the , which Trump supports to achieve what he calls "energy dominance" in the global market. The president-elect said Wright and Burgum would drive that effort, per the , partly by cutting regulations.
Wright has recognized the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change, though he's been skeptical that climate change has anything to do with the increase in extreme weather. He's said the use of fossil fuels is necessary to bring the developing world out of poverty. "The world runs on oil and gas, and we need that," Wright told CNBC last year, adding that the idea of completely moving away from fossil fuels in a decade an "absurd time frame.
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