Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Energy secretary, addressed previous comments on climate change during a much-awaited Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was particularly interested to hear the Liberty Energy CEO explain a LinkedIn post in 2023 in which Wright wrote that “the hype over wildfires is just hype to justify” harmful climate policies.
“[The wildfires in Los Angeles] have destroyed more than 12,000 structures and have led to more than two dozen lives being lost,” Padilla said. “It’s clear that these fires only reach the size and the scale that they have because of unseasonably dry vegetation and extremely high winds, both of which are direct results of climate change.”
Wright — who has come under criticism for other social media posts downplaying the urgency of addressing climate change — said that he stood by his wildfire comment.
