President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Energy Department, Chris Wright, said Wednesday he supported increasing global access to oil and gas — even as he acknowledged that fossil fuels were driving climate change.
“Energy is critical to human lives. Climate change is a global challenge that we need to solve,” Wright said. “And the trade-offs between those two are the decisions politicians make, and they’re the decisions that will impact the future of our world.”
Wright, who is the CEO of Colorado-based fracking services company Liberty Energy, faced numerous questions Wednesday over his previous comments on climate change and his support for growing U.S. fossil fuel production and exports.
Wright’s comments came in response to questions from Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who called Wright “a walking energy transition” and dubbed his positions on climate change to be “more subtle” than is publicly recognized.
“Predictions are hard, particularly about the future, and I think we need to be humble about that,” Wright said on Wednesday. Instead, Wright called for the advancement of energy technologies “that grow the amount of energy we have and drive down the cost,” as well as lowering emissions.
Climate protesters disrupted Wright’s hearing earlier Wednesday who sought to link Wright to the disastrous L.A. wildfires.
