Chris Wright, the newly appointed U.S. energy secretary, gave a harsh assessment of the Biden administration’s energy policy and climate change initiatives on Monday in front of a large group of oil and gas executives.
The most vocal supporter of President Trump’s proposals to increase American oil and gas output and eliminate almost all government policies intended to slow global change is Mr. Wright, a former fracking executive.
As he opened the nation’s largest annual meeting of the energy business, CERAWeek by S&P Global, in Houston, Mr. Wright stated, “I wanted to play a role in reversing what I believe has been a very poor direction in energy policy.” “The policy of the previous administration was myopically centered on climate change.”
It was very different from a year earlier when Jennifer Granholm, the Biden administration’s energy secretary, told the same group that the shift to lower-carbon energy sources like solar, wind, and batteries was inevitable. “The expansion of America’s energy dominance to clean energy is striking,” Ms. Granholm stated, “despite the fact that we are the world’s largest producer of gas and oil.”
However, Mr. Wright disregarded renewable energy, which constituted a minor component of the global energy mix. Currently, 25% of the world’s raw energy comes from natural gas before it is transformed into electricity or another purpose. Only around 3% comes from sun and wind, he claimed. There were many more applications for gas, he added.
