On November 16, 2024, President Donald Trump announced Wright as his nominee for the United States Secretary of Energy. He was confirmed by the United States Senate to the office on February 3, 2025 by a vote of 59–38.[4] He was sworn in later that day.[5]
Early and personal life
Wright was born in 1965 and grew up in Colorado. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[6] He was a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and at MIT.[7] Wright and his wife, Liz, live in Englewood, Colorado.[8]
Career
In 1992, Wright founded Pinnacle Technologies, a company involved in commercial shale gas production through fracking and served as its CEO until 2006. He was also chairman of Stroud Energy (current Stroud Exploration Company),[9] another company involved in the production of shale gas, before he sold the company in 2006.[8] In 2011, he founded Liberty Energy.[10] As of February 2023, the company was valued at $2.8 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.[11] As the CEO of Liberty Energy, Wright earned $5.6 million in 2023.[6]
In 2019 Wright drank fracking fluid to demonstrate that it was not dangerous,[12][13] and Liberty Energy promoted its "greener selections" for chemical additives.[14] In a video posted to LinkedIn in January 2023, he said, "There is no climate crisis and we're not in the midst of an energy transition either".[15] He claimed that the climate movement around the world was "collapsing under its own weight".[7] He also said that the term "carbon pollution" is misleading.[16]
1 2 "Statement from Energy Secretary Chris Wright" (Press release). United States Department of Energy. February 3, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright released the following statement after being sworn in earlier today as the 17th Secretary of Energy:
* Ineligible to act as president • ** Ambiguity exists concerning eligibility to act as president • *** Vice President-elect succeeds to the Presidency under Section 3 of the 20th Amendment if the President-elect dies or acts as President if President-elect fails to qualify for the office or a President is not chosen when a contingent election is required by the 12th Amendment
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