Prominent fracing CEO is Trump's top pick for new energy secretary

(Bloomberg) – The head of Liberty Energy Inc., the world’s second-largest fracing services company, has gained prominent endorsements as a potential pick for Donald Trump’s energy secretary.

While Chris Wright has no Washington experience, he’s made a name for himself as a vocal proponent of fossil fuels, touting their ability to raise living standards with cheap energy, while downplaying the need to transition to clean energy.

“Chris is an excellent choice for Secretary of Energy,” said Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a free-market advocacy group. He led Trump's Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.

Wright declined to comment when reached by phone. A spokeswoman for the transition team said decisions regarding who will serve in Trump’s second administration “will be announced when they are made.”

Wright holds engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California at Berkeley and describes himself on his Denver-based company’s website as a “tech nerd turned entrepreneur and a dedicated humanitarian.”

His company published a 180-page paper earlier this year that said climate change “is far from the world’s greatest threat to human life” and “hydrocarbons are essential to improving the wealth, health, and life opportunities for the less energized.”  

Though the Energy Department has a disparate mission that includes helping to build the nation’s nuclear warheads as well as maintaining its stockpile of crude oil, it has little authority over oil and gas development. Most decisions on leasing of public lands and waters fall to the Interior Department.