CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday named Chris Wright, the CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy, as his pick to become the next secretary of the Department of Energy.

Wright will also serve on the newly formed Council of National Energy, which Trump said will consist of all agencies involved in the “licensing, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation” of energy. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – chosen by Trump to be secretary of the Department of the Interior – will preside.

“Chris is a leading energy technologist and entrepreneur. He has worked in the nuclear energy, solar energy, geothermal and oil and gas sectors. Most importantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch America’s shale revolution that fueled American energy independence and transformed global energy markets and geopolitics,” Trump wrote in a statement on Saturday.

In addition to his company’s work in oil and natural gas fracking, Wright also sits on the board of a modular nuclear reactor company and has spoken about the potential of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy development has become a major focus of the Biden administration’s Energy Department. The department also houses the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency that maintains the nuclear stockpile.

Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma-based fracking billionaire who has had Trump’s ear on energy issues during the campaign, told the trade publication Hart Energy on Monday that Wright was his top choice for the post, calling him a “really, really sharp person.” ”

Wright has acknowledged the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change, but has expressed doubt that climate change is linked to worsening extreme weather. He has also been a staunch supporter of fossil fuels in public interviews, saying they are necessary to lift developing countries out of poverty.

“The world runs on oil and gas, and we need that,” Wright told CNBC in a 2023 interview, saying calls to transition to fossil fuels within a decade were an “absurd time frame.”

In 2021, the International Energy Agency said that if the world wants to keep the worst effects of global warming at bay, no new fossil fuel developments should be approved. Many countries, including the US under President Joe Biden, have since approved new projects.

“There’s just no benefit in getting in the way of the current energy system before we build a new energy system,” Wright told CNBC. “I don’t think you’re going to see any meaningful change in our hydrocarbon system in the next three decades.”