特朗普任命化石燃料高管克里斯·赖特为能源部长
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 16 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）当选总统唐纳德·特朗普选择了竞选捐款人和化石燃料高管克里斯·赖特（Chris Wright）在他即将上任的第二届政府中担任能源部长。美联社记者COLLEN LONG 对此作了下述报道。
作为总部位于丹佛的 Liberty Energy 的首席执行官，赖特是石油和天然气开发的积极倡导者，包括水力压裂，这是特朗普寻求实现美国在全球市场“能源主导地位”的关键支柱。
赖特一直是业内反对应对气候变化努力的最响亮的声音之一，并可能推动化石燃料的发展，包括迅速采取行动结束拜登政府对天然气出口审批长达一年的暂停。
赖特还批评了自由派和左翼团体所谓的“自上而下”的气候政策，并表示全球气候运动“不堪重负，正在崩溃”。
考虑让赖特担任政府能源部部长，赢得了包括石油和天然气大亨哈罗德·哈姆在内的有影响力的保守派人士的支持。
特朗普选择罗伯特·肯尼迪 (RFK Jr.) 领导卫生与公众服务部
哈姆是大型页岩油公司大陆资源公司的执行董事长，总部位于俄克拉荷马州，是特朗普的长期支持者和顾问，在特朗普第一任期的能源问题上发挥了关键作用。
哈姆于 4 月帮助组织了在特朗普的海湖庄园举行的活动，据报道，特朗普要求行业领袖和说客为特朗普的竞选活动捐款 10 亿美元，期望特朗普在连任后会缩减环境法规。
能源部负责推进美国的能源、环境和核安全。该机构负责维护该国的核武器，监督 17 个国家研究实验室并批准天然气出口，以及确保国家核武器综合体的环境清理。它还促进科学和技术研究。
共和党参议员约翰·巴拉索预计将成为参议院能源和自然资源委员会主席，他说特朗普承诺为其内阁做出大胆的选择，而赖特的提名实现了这一承诺。
“他是一位能源创新者，为美国的水力压裂繁荣奠定了基础。在美国上次能源政策实施四年后，我们国家迫切需要一位了解美国能源对我们的经济和国家安全有多么重要的能源部长，”巴拉索在谈到赖特时说道，并补充道：“赖特将有助于确保美国继续致力于将美国家庭放在首位的全方位能源政策。”
支持化石燃料的保守派组织美国能源联盟主席托马斯·派尔表示，赖特将是能源部长的“绝佳人选”。 2016 年，派尔领导了特朗普能源部的过渡团队。
Liberty 是一家主要的能源行业服务提供商，专注于技术。赖特在科罗拉多州长大，在麻省理工学院获得本科学位，并在加州大学伯克利分校和麻省理工学院攻读电气工程研究生。1992 年，他创立了 Pinnacle Technologies，该公司通过水力压裂法帮助启动了商业页岩气生产。
后来，他担任早期页岩气生产商 Stroud Energy 的董事长，之后于 2010 年创立了 Liberty Resources。
题图：前总统唐纳德·特朗普于 2024 年 8 月 29 日在密歇根州波特维尔的集会上发表讲话。BRITTANY GREESON/NYT
附原英文报道：
Trump names fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary
By COLLEN LONG The Associated Press,Updated November 16, 2024
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Potterville, Mich., Aug. 29, 2024.BRITTANY GREESON/NYT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.
CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Wright also has criticized what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.”
Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
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Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term.
Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.
The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. The agency is in charge of maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, oversees 17 national research laboratories and approves natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. It also promotes scientific and technological research.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.
“He’s s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary (of energy) who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said of Wright, adding: “Wright will help ensure America remains committed to an all-of-the-above energy policy that puts American families first.”
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for Energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.
Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.
