President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based shale oil and gas company Liberty Energy, as Secretary of Energy, CNN reported.
Mr. Wright will also be a member of the newly established National Energy Council in the administration of the US president-elect.
The council will include all agencies involved in “permitting, producing, distributing, regulating, transporting” energy, Mr. Trump said. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Mr. Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Interior, will chair the council.
“Chris is a leading technologist and entrepreneur in the energy sector. He has worked in nuclear, solar, geothermal, and oil and gas. Most notably, Chris was one of the pioneers who launched the shale revolution in the United States, promoting American energy independence and transforming global energy markets and geopolitics,” Mr. Donald Trump said in the nomination announcement on November 16.
In addition to his work at the oil and gas company, Chris Wright is also a member of the board of directors of a modular nuclear reactor company and has spoken many times about the potential of nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy development has become a major focus of the US Department of Energy under President Joe Biden. The US Department of Energy also has the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for maintaining the nuclear stockpile.
