WASHINGTON — In a confirmation hearing on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Energy Department, Chris Wright, pledged to use science and data to inform his decisions on nuclear waste management, energy and innovation.
“Energy is the infrastructure of life. It’s what makes everything possible,” said Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, which provides technology to help oil and gas companies produce fossil fuels.
Senators from both parties asked Wright whether his job in industry would present a conflict of interest. Wright said that if his nomination as Energy Secretary is confirmed, he would sever ties from energy companies. When several senators asked variations of whether he would succumb to sweetheart deals under Donald Trump’s administration, Wright said he has followed rigorous and ethical business practices his whole life and will continue to do so.
Most senators asked questions specific to their states, covering topics including critical minerals, geothermal development, funding to the national laboratories and small modular reactors (SMRs). Two topics that repeatedly came up were climate change and nuclear power.
Notably, in contrast to Trump’s past comments doubting climate change, Wright confirmed that he “absolutely” believes climate change is real.
“I’ve studied and followed the data and the evolution of climate change for at least 20 years now. It is a global issue. It is a real issue. It’s a challenging issue,” Wright said. “And the solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system. I’ve worked on that most of my career — in nuclear, solar, geothermal and new battery storage technology.”
One of the topics several senators pushed Wright on was the link between energy and wildfires.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked Wright to confirm that he would support improvements to Hawaii’s electric grids to reduce the risk of wildfires and ensure reliable access to power. He replied that his short answer would be yes.
Meanwhile, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) grilled Wright about his past social media comments on wildfires.
“The climate crisis and its deadly effects is very real to my neighbors and my constituents,” Padilla said. “I understand that you’ve written that ‘the hype over wildfires is just hype to justify more impoverishment from bad government policies.’ Given the devastation that we’re currently experiencing in Los Angeles, do you believe that wildfires are ‘just hype?’”
Wright said “climate change is a real and global phenomenon” and that he is watching the wildfires with sorrow and fear. However he added, “I stand by my past comments.”
Later in the hearing, Wright said under him, the Department of Energy would accelerate the development of new energy technologies to address climate change.
Wright also said he was confident that he would be able to safely deal with nuclear waste.
“With engineering, sensible regulation and safeguards, I think the nuclear waste problem is one of the most manageable problems because the volume of waste is relatively small,” Wright said.
Still, Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, said Wright was underestimating the challenge of managing nuclear waste.
“Historically, the Department of Energy has mismanaged the operation of these nuclear weapons production plants,” Kimball said. “That’s why we have environmental contamination. That’s why we have nuclear waste storage challenges. That’s why it has cost over $100 billion to deal with this, even since the end of the Cold War.”
Protesters interrupted the hearing multiple times, shouting about climate change and the Los Angeles wildfires, but the hearing was otherwise not especially contentious.
Immediately after the hearing, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he expects Wright will soon lead the Department of Energy.
“I’m looking forward to getting him confirmed,” Lee said.
