It didn’t take long for the media to run a hit piece on Chris Wright, who President-elect Donald Trump nominated as his Secretary of Energy. Wright, the founder and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, a fracking company, was nominated earlier this week; see NEW: Trump Taps Fracking Exec As Next Energy Secretary. Today, Reuters is on the move with a story headlined: Trump energy pick wrote ESG report hailing oil, gas, downplaying climate worry.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the energy department believes fossil fuels are the key to ending world poverty which, he says, is a greater problem than climate change’s “distant” threat, according to a report he penned as CEO of oilfield services company Liberty Energy.
In a corporate report released in February called ‘Bettering Human Lives,’ Chris Wright said that the energy transition has not begun and that climate change, while a challenge, is not the greatest threat to humans.
Poverty is a bigger threat that can be alleviated with access to hydrocarbons, said Wright, who started a foundation aimed at expanding propane cook stoves in developing countries.
Mainstream science conflicts with many opinions of the incoming top U.S. energy official, who will likely be zealous to carry out Trump’s agenda, maximizing already record-high domestic oil and gas production and withdrawing from international cooperation to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Well, we can’t be going against the “scientific consensus,” can we?
The article goes on to trot out the sacred cattle that Wright will shortly be slaying.
Wright pushes back on the treatment of carbon dioxide as a pollutant, saying carbon is essential for life. Peter Reich, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, called Wright’s logic “terrifyingly absurd.” “People and their pets and crops also need water,” Reich said. “That doesn’t mean that if your house is flooded up to the second floor or your soybean field is under water, that water cannot be a problem.”
Apparently, this client scientist is not aware that screaming and pounding your fist on the floor is not an argument.
Wright wrote “the wealthy world has gone beyond over-optimism surrounding the breadth and scalability of a narrow slice of alternative energy and, unfortunately, has rushed head-long into outright obstruction of hydrocarbon infrastructure and production.
The report says the number of polar bears is rising, without evidence. Charlotte Lindqvist, an expert at the University of Buffalo, said polar bear populations are not increasing and the species is losing its sea ice habitats.
Note to the University of Buffalo expert: The scientific consensus is that the polar bear population is stable or expanding. There is no evidence that polar bears require barren, inhospitable ice floes to survive. Even if it did, that may not be a strong argument.
Wright does support some petroleum alternatives, such as small modular nuclear, which is not commercial yet and geothermal, while criticizing solar and wind as insufficient.
Bazilian said that view is outdated, noting that the cost of carbon-free solar and wind has fallen dramatically and those sources can also address energy poverty.
Hmmm, not so fast there, Bazilian, old fellow. Not only is “carbon-free” energy not competitive without government subsidies, it isn’t reliable.
Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, pointed to the more than 200 people who died due to October’s Hurricane Helene, which scientists say was worsened by climate change.
Mann, of “hide the decline” and “hockey stick” fame, is engaging in what he does best. No matter what “scientists” say about hurricanes, they are not getting stronger because of climate change. The damage caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina was a result of the hurricane following a period of extended rain — that is, completely unrelated events.
Wright places the welfare of people and communities above scientific grift. He supports what works and is critical of what doesn’t and can’t work…looking at you, wind and solar. He understands that energy production is inextricably linked to our freedom and prosperity. This bill of indictment against Wright should be read into the Congressional Record as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee votes 19-0 in favor of Wright’s nomination.
