By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the U.S. Energy Department, told U.S. senators in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday his first priority is expanding domestic energy production including liquefied natural gas and nuclear power.
Wright, 60, believes fossil fuels are the key to ending world poverty, which is a greater problem than climate change's "distant" threat, according to a report he wrote as CEO of oilfield services company Liberty Energy.
He is expected to win a majority in the 100-member Senate, now controlled by Republicans, and will step down from Liberty once confirmed.
"The solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system," Wright told the Senate energy committee. "Do I wish we could make faster progress, absolutely." Wright, an engineer, studied fusion energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a technology scientists hope one day can help add power to the grid, but which faces hurdles.
Wright supports some fossil fuel alternatives, such as small nuclear power reactors, which are not yet commercially available, and geothermal power. He has criticized solar and wind power as insufficient.
"Previous administrations have viewed energy as a liability instead of the immense national asset that it is," Wright said.
"To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans."
President Joe Biden paused approvals for LNG exports and put restrictions on drilling on federal lands. Still, U.S. exports of LNG, a super-chilled exportable form of natural gas, hit a record in 2023, and the U.S. now produces oil at a higher rate than any other country ever has.
WILDFIRES
Protesters shouting about the deadly fires in Los Angeles and the role fossil fuels play in global warming halted the hearing briefly several times.
Wright said the fires are "heartbreaking" but said he stood by his previous comments on social media about wildfires. In 2023 Wright said on social media that "hype over wildfires is just hype to justify" policies to curb climate change.
Wright would replace Jennifer Granholm, who urged caution on LNG, saying unfettered exports will boost emissions of gases blamed for climate change and risk raising fuel prices for manufacturers and homeowners.
The top Democrat on the committee, Senator Martin Heinrich, said companies have invested nearly $500 billion in clean energy after legislation passed in recent years including Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, and told Wright programs in those laws should not be clawed back, in order to protect clean energy and the jobs that come with it.
Wright is expected to work on a new energy council with Doug Burgum, Trump's nominee for interior secretary.
Wright said the U.S. must remove barriers to progress on energy. Trump, a Republican who takes office on Jan. 20, may declare a national energy emergency, allowing him to fast-track permits for new power infrastructure and other energy projects.
Removing barriers would fit into Trump's agenda to expand energy output as U.S. power demand begins to surge for the first time in decades and to reverse Biden's pause on LNG exports.
Biden passed a signature climate change law with billions of dollars to support alternative energy projects. But Congress has failed so far to pass a permitting bill for the transmission infrastructure needed to move huge amounts of power from high-tech projects like renewables and planned new nuclear reactors.