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Wright believes fossil fuels are key to ending world

poverty

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Wright supports new small nuclear reactors and geothermal

power

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Democrats, Wright agree on need for more power

transmission

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Chris Wright,

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the U.S. Energy

Department, will tell 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, 59, 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.

Wright supports some fossil fuel alternatives, such as small

nuclear power reactors, which are not yet commercially

available, and geothermal power. But 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 will

tell the Senate energy committee, according to prepared remarks

reviewed by Reuters.

"To compete globally, we must expand energy production,

including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut

the cost of energy."

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, a super-chilled

exportable form of natural gas, hit a record in 2023 thanks to

the shale boom. The U.S. now produces more oil and gas than any

other country ever has.

Wright, is expected to win a majority in the 100-member

Senate, now controlled by Republicans, and will step down from

Liberty once confirmed. Wright would replace Jennifer Granholm,

who urged caution on the issuance of new permits to export LNG,

saying unfettered exports will boost emissions of gases blamed

for climate change and risk raising fuel prices for

manufacturers and home owners.

The top Democrat on the committee, Senator Martin Heinrich,

from fossil fuel-producing New Mexico, said after meeting Wright

last week the two agreed that the Energy Department "must help

speed the expansion of interregional transmission infrastructure

to meet our nation's skyrocketing demand for clean power."

Heinrich said he told Wright his concerns about the Trump

team's plan to "claw back programs in order to undo our progress

in building a cleaner, healthier and more affordable energy

future, and the many jobs that go with it."

Wright is expected to work on a new energy council with Doug

Burgum, Trump's nominee for interior secretary.

Wright will also say that 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.

The move 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 President Joe Biden's pause on

approvals of 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.