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Wright is defender of fossil fuel use

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Last year he said, 'There is no climate crisis'

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Wright likely to be involved in expansion of nuclear power

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald

Trump said on Saturday that oil and gas industry executive Chris

Wright, a staunch defender of fossil fuel use, would be his pick

to lead the Department of Energy.

Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield

services firm based in Denver. He is expected to support Trump's

plan to maximize production of oil and gas and to seek ways to

boost generation of electricity, demand for which is rising for

the first time in decades.

He is also likely to share Trump's opposition to global

cooperation on fighting climate change. Wright has called

climate change activists alarmist and has likened efforts by

Democrats to combat global warming to Soviet-style communism.

"There is no climate crisis, and we're not in the midst of

an energy transition, either," Wright said in a video posted to

his LinkedIn profile last year.

Wright, who does not have any political experience, has

written extensively on the need for more fossil fuel production

to lift people out of poverty.

He has stood out among oil and gas executives for his

freewheeling style, and describes himself as a tech nerd.

Wright made a media splash in 2019 when he drank

fracking fluid on camera to demonstrate it was not dangerous.

U.S. oil output hit the highest level any country has ever

produced under Biden, and it is uncertain how much Wright and

the incoming administration could boost that.

Most drilling decisions are driven by private companies

working on land not owned by the federal government.

The Department of Energy handles U.S. energy diplomacy,

administers the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - which Trump has

said he wants to replenish - and runs grant and loan programs to

advance energy technologies, such as the Loan Programs Office.

The secretary also oversees the aging U.S. nuclear weapons

complex, nuclear energy waste disposal, and 17 national labs.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wright will replace Jennifer

Granholm, a supporter of electric vehicles, emerging energy

sources like geothermal power and a backer of carbon-free wind,

solar and nuclear energy.

Wright will also likely be involved in permitting of

electricity transmission and the expansion of nuclear power, an

energy source that is popular with both Republicans and

Democrats but which is expensive and complicated to permit.

Power demand in the United States is surging for the first

time in two decades amid growth in artificial intelligence,

electric vehicles and cryptocurrencies.