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Before a packed crowd of oil and gas executives on Monday, Chris Wright, the new US energy secretary, delivered a scathing critique of the Biden administration’s energy policies and efforts to fight climate change and promised a “180 degree pivot.”
Mr. Wright, a former fracking executive, has emerged as the most forceful promoter of President Trump’s plans to expand American oil and gas production and dismantle virtually every federal policy aimed at curbing global warming.
“I wanted to play a role in reversing what I believe has been a very poor direction in energy policy,” Mr. Wright said as he kicked off the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, the nation’s biggest annual gathering of the energy industry.
The previous administration’s policy was focused myopically on climate change, with people as simply collateral damage.
Mr. Wright’s speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause.
Mr. Wright has argued there is a moral case for fossil fuels, saying they are crucial for alleviating global poverty and that moving too quickly to cut emissions risks driving up energy prices around the world.
He has denounced efforts by countries to stop adding greenhouse gas to the atmosphere by 2050, calling that a “sinister goal.”
Mr. Wright, however, was dismissive of renewable power, which he said played only a small role in the world’s energy mix.
We’ve had years of Western countries shamelessly saying don’t develop coal, coal is bad, that’s just nonsense.
Natural gas currently supplies 25 percent of raw energy globally, before it is converted into electricity or some other use. Wind and solar only supply about 3 percent, he said.
Mr. Wright has denied the established science of climate change, saying there are many places in the world where it is still not clear that the planet is warming and that he thinks the science is still developing.
He has not addressed the costs of adapting to a hotter planet, which experts estimate could reach trillions of dollars for developing countries alone this decade.
Mr. Wright also criticized British efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than any other wealthy country, saying that doing so had driven key industries overseas.
I find it sad and a bit ironic that once mighty steel and petrochemical industries of the United Kingdom have been displaced to Asia where the same products will be produced with higher greenhouse gas emissions, then loaded on a diesel-powered ship back to the United Kingdom.
The net result is higher prices and fewer jobs for U.K. citizens, higher global greenhouse gas emissions, and all of this is termed a climate policy.
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