Exclusive: Energy secretary pledges to work with states, restore common sense By EPN Staff This is the first part of a three-part series from EPN’s exclusive interview with U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged to work with states to restore sensible energy policy that prioritizes the nation’s – and states’ – interests and said he has received quiet support from Democratic governors and senators grappling with rising energy costs and soaring demand. “I think you’re going to start to see a pendulum swing back,” Wright told Energy Platform News in an exclusive interview. “Common sense, I hope, is going to be contagious.” In his recent wide-ranging conversation with Dan Haley, a board member of Energy Platform News’ nonprofit parent, Policy Platform, Wright said the Trump administration is committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayer funds, reducing bureaucratic red tape and discouraging state energy policies that weaponize environmental laws or block economic opportunity. Why it matters With his extensive energy industry experience and his authority as Secretary of Energy, Wright is leading the Trump administration’s efforts to champion policy that satisfies public need for reliable, affordable energy and preserves clean air and water. “The goal is to return permitting to the way it originally was a few decades ago,” Wright said. “Everybody wants clean water, clean air and to be thoughtful about how things are designed and how they’re done.” Wright noted about 80 percent of U.S. energy continues to be generated by hydrocarbons, including natural gas, oil and coal, and policies that impede those sources’ development harm Americans. He emphasized the importance of states relying on market-driven policies rather than federal energy subsidies. After Donald Trump won election in November, the Biden administration’s Department of Energy spent its remaining days committing about $100 billion for various energy projects – more than doubling the $40 billion awarded by the department over the preceding 15 years, Wright said. He criticized his predecessor’s approach, noting recent Democratic-led policies warped investment decisions, didn’t reduce the importance of fossil fuels and resulted in an “over 20 percent rise in electricity prices during the Biden administration and almost no growth in electricity production.” “How are you going to win the AI arms race, or reshore manufacturing in the United States, or improve people’s lives, in that trajectory?” The bigger picture Wright offered pointed criticism of state policies that claim to address climate change and said they serve largely to move emissions – and prosperity – elsewhere. “If you’re all in on climate change in California, you make energy expensive, you make it hard to permit stuff, your gasoline is $1.50 more than everyone else’s, what happens? It just means businesses leave.” California has moved to shut down oil production while relying more on imported oil, including oil produced in the Amazon rainforest. The state ranks among the worst for business, cost-of-living, and electricity prices. “Colorado’s going the same direction,” Wright said of his home state’s policy actions. “People building a new manufacturing plant, they’re not going to build it in Colorado. They’re going to build it in a neighboring state. That’s not an emissions reduction thing, that’s just moving emissions and moving jobs, and making your citizens a little bit poorer.” State policies that target fossil fuel companies, such as policies in Vermont and New York that levy retroactive fines on certain energy providers, are “banana republic stuff” and “egregious lawfare,” Wright said. He warned those efforts could trigger federal investigations and other action to “cut off some of that nonsense.”
