Pressure-pumper Liberty Energy’s founder Chris Wright was confirmed Feb. 3 as the 17th U.S. Energy Secretary in a 59-38 Senate vote.
Wright’s confirmation completes the three-office, energy-related slate of President Trump’s nominations. Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was confirmed as Interior Secretary in a 79-18 vote on Jan. 30; Lee Zeldin was confirmed as Environmental Protection Agency administrator 56-42 on Jan. 29.
As part of confirmation, Wright stepped down as chairman and CEO of Denver-based Liberty, which completed its inaugural frac job in 2012 in the Bakken oil play in North Dakota.
Taking the CEO post is Ron Gusek, who was president. Taking the chairman post is board member Bill Kimble, who retired from KPMG. Kimble held positions including energy-sector leader and executive director of KPMG’s Global Energy Institute.
Bipartisan support
Breaking party lines in the Feb. 3 vote in favor of Wright's confirmation included both of Wright’s home state senators, John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado).
Also voting in support were Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) committee ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) as well as his colleague Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico); Margaret Wood Hassan (D-New Hampshire) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire); and Angus King (I-Maine).
Hickenlooper and King are—like Heinrich—among members of the ENR committee.
Nays on Jan. 30 on advancing Wright's nomination to a confirmation vote mostly came from West Coast and northern East Coast senators.
‘Open to discussion’
Senate majority leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said on the Senate floor Feb. 3 that Wright’s experience—in nuclear, solar, geothermal, wind, oil and natural gas—is exceptional among the U.S.’s 16 past energy secretaries.
“He has worked on innovations in technology that have reshaped” U.S. energy. “… And he’s ready to get to work.”
Thune cited Hickenlooper as saying Wright, with whom he has been longtime friends, is “a scientist who is open to discussion” and has the ability to “assess what is possible.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) noted on the floor that Wright has also studied fusion.
Boldface on North Face
Wright remained boldfaced about the benefits of energy since Trump nominated him on Nov. 16, including posting on X on Nov. 17 a video about North Face’s rejection of an order from an oil-industry firm for branded apparel.
Wright said in the video that “it’s likely 90% or more” of North Face products’ content is made of oil and gas.
“North Face is not only an extraordinary customer of the oil and gas industry, they’re also an extraordinary partner with the oil and gas industry,” he said.
“So thank you, North Face. And you’re welcome.”
He captioned the video, “Looking forward to bringing this kind of common-sense energy leadership to Washington. #thankyounorthface.”
An MIT engineering graduate, Wright, 60, was part of a mid-1990s team that tried a slickwater frac in a Union Pacific Resources Group well in the Cotton Valley in East Texas that contributed to George Mitchell’s Barnett shale-gas breakthrough in the Fort Worth Basin.
The frac—virtually all water—reduced well costs compared with expensive amounts of gel that had been typical in cracking tight rock and distributing proppant at the time.
‘Too easy to stop projects’
During the confirmation hearing Jan. 15, Wright said he saw the post as having three priorities: expanding energy production, boosting the U.S.’ national lab system to encourage innovation and removing bureaucratic barriers to energy project construction.
“Federal policies today make it too easy to stop projects and very hard to start and complete projects,” Wright said.
He supported development of all energy sources, he said. “We want more energy in the world because it's what makes people's lives better,” he said.
“You have to understand that there isn't dirty energy and clean energy. All energies are different, and they all have different trade-offs.”
Hart Energy was first to report on Nov. 12 that Wright was the top choice for the Department of Energy (DOE) post for shale wildcatter and energy-policy influencer Harold Hamm.
Wright tweeted upon the Nov. 16 nomination, “I am honored and grateful for the opportunity from to serve our country as U.S. Secretary of Energy. My dedication to bettering human lives remains steadfast, with a focus on making American energy more affordable, reliable, and secure. Energy is the lifeblood that makes everything in life possible. Energy matters. I am looking forward to getting to work.”
Trump posted in his nomination announcement, “Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American shale revolution that fueled American energy independence and transformed the global energy markets and geopoltics.”
Hamm, who led Continental Resources from one well-service truck in the 1960s to a more than $10 billion E&P today, said Wright is “one of the most articulate people that I know of in energy and from our industry.”
“He’s a really, really sharp individual and can do a good job [as DOE secretary].”
A Colorado native, Wright’s official bio at the Liberty website is “a self-described tech nerd turned entrepreneur and a dedicated humanitarian on a mission to better human lives by expanding access to abundant, affordable and reliable energy.”
Wright sold his frac-mapping company, Pinnacle Technologies, to Carbo Ceramics in 2002. He held the chairman post at Barnett developer Stroud Energy, which was sold to Range Resources in 2006.
He founded Liberty Energy, formerly known as Liberty Oilfield Services, in 2011 and was also executive chairman of Bakken- and Powder River Basin-focused E&P Liberty Resources, which he co-founded in 2010.
Wright often presents at industry and generalist programs on the advantages of fossil fuels in lifting the world’s population out of poverty and in improving health and quality of life. He is a founding board member of the Bettering Human Lives Foundation.