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Trump taps fracking CEO Chris Wright for Energy secretary

November 18, 2024

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Energy & Environment

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The Big Story

Trump taps fracking CEO Chris Wright for Energy secretary

President-elect Trump announced Saturday he would nominate Chris Wright, a donor and fracking company leader, to serve as his Energy secretary.

Wright, a Trump donor, is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oilfield services company. Wright will require Senate confirmation to lead the Department of Energy.

In addition to that role, Trump said Wright would serve on a newly formed Council of National Energy being led by his nominee for Interior secretary, Doug Burgum.

That council will focus on cutting regulations and increasing investments to ramp up oil and gas production. Trump has pledged to increase drilling upon taking office, even as the U.S. set records for oil production under the Biden administration, and he has signaled support for the fracking industry.

The Energy Department oversees oil and gas production and exports, as well as the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

Fracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing, is an oil and gas extraction technique that kicked off the “shale revolution” greatly boosting companies’ energy production potential and helping to make the U.S. the world’s top producer of oil and gas.

Read more from our colleague Brett Samuels at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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What We’re Reading

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

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