The Senate confirmed Colorado engineer and businessman Chris Wright to serve as the 17th secretary of the Energy Department on Monday with a vote of 59 to 38.
Wright was confirmed just days after lawmakers approved former Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to run the Department of the Interior. Wright and Burgum both pledged in confirmation hearings to deliver on President Donald Trump’s demands that the United States reclaim global hegemony through the use of the nation’s abundant underground resources, which had been locked up by Democrat predecessors. The new president declared an “energy emergency” and signed at least six executive orders within his first 24 hours back in office that gave instructions for federal agencies to unleash American power production.
“We will achieve Energy Dominance by sustainably developing our natural resources while championing clean air and clean water, protecting our most beautiful lands, and expanding outdoor recreation!” Burgum wrote in an online post after taking his own oath. “We will strengthen our mission of enhancing the quality of life, promoting economic opportunities, and empowering our Tribal partners through mutual respect, open communication, collaboration, and a sincere willingness to listen.”
Wright and Burgum will work hand-in-hand to usher in President Trump’s “golden age of America” with an unapologetic energy agenda that unshackles oil and gas producers from years of onerous regulations designed to keep key resources from extraction.
“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it,” Trump said in his second inaugural address last month.
Republican promises to harness the nation’s full resources will bring relief to power producers and consumers burdened by the last administration’s zealous anti-fossil fuel agenda, which Interior Secretary Deb Haaland implemented. Last week, the Associated Press reported that the former public land chief, who presided over the development-barring lockdown of nearly 700 million acres of federal property, is now running for New Mexico governor.
According to The Wall Street Journal, through its first two years, Joe Biden’s administration issued oil and gas leases on fewer acres than any president since Harry Truman. The Washington Free Beacon reported last summer that the “administration has approved more than 1,000 fewer oil permits in its first three years than the Trump administration did in the same timeframe.”
As Energy secretary, Wright (a fossil fuel executive) wants to expand the nation’s electrical capacity and promote the development of liquefied natural gas in addition to small nuclear reactors.
“To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans,” Wright told lawmakers in January.
Advocates of cheap and reliable energy, such as Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of the energy nonprofit Power the Future, greeted Wright’s nomination with enthusiasm.
“American families will benefit from having Chris Wright, who has first-hand experience as a producer, leading an energy policy that finally puts them first,” Turner said in a statement last month. “Mr. Wright has a deep understanding of our energy landscape and fully appreciates how energy security delivers national security. The American people overwhelmingly voted to put American energy first and Chris Wright is a leader who will deliver on that promise.”
Wright’s nomination was also supported by Thomas Pyle, the president of the American Energy Alliance.
“Over the past decade, Wright has led the way making the moral case for energy development, recognizing the link between economic growth and environmental progress,” Pyle said in a November statement. “He is a champion for reliable, affordable energy and the role it plays in ensuring American prosperity and improving people’s lives in the developing world.”
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