Trump’s energy ‘dominance’ agenda may not look too different than Biden’s

Wright is among the least controversial of Trump’s cabinet nominees, and the fact that he was warmly introduced in the hearing by a Democrat, Colorado’s John Hickenlooper, suggests he’ll have little trouble being confirmed. Although the hearing was interrupted repeatedly by climate protestors, on most issues Wright’s comments indicated he may represent more of a departure on energy policy from Trump’s first term than from the Biden administration status quo.

Wright talked up the benefits of advanced nuclear and geothermal power, technologies that he has invested in himself. He harped on the necessity of grid modernization, which has already been a DOE priority under Biden. He said he would be supportive of carbon tariff legislation, but wriggled out of a question about whether he would oversee the research on US industrial carbon intensity that would underpin it. And while he wouldn’t explicitly back wind and solar tax credits, he also turned down a chance to endorse methane-based hydrogen fuels.

Back in 2017, during his confirmation hearing to be Trump’s first energy secretary, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was far more circumspect about the energy transition. At the time, Perry had only recently retracted his position that the DOE should be abolished entirely. He admitted that “the climate is changing,” but contended “some of it is naturally occurring” and that “the question is how we address it in a thoughtful way, that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affordability of energy, or American jobs.”

This reasoning — that the energy transition is at odds with the US economy, and that if other countries aren’t pulling their weight on emissions, the US shouldn’t either — remains common among Republican lawmakers, and Trump himself. But Wright took the opposite view, arguing that the path to energy dominance can’t avoid low-carbon technologies.

“Are there things we can do to accelerate the development of new energy technologies that are really the only pathway to address climate change? Absolutely. We should have nothing but American leadership in this area,” he said. “If the US moves slowly, other players are going to fill that vacuum.”

Still, Wright did indicate that a big pivot is coming on LNG exports. The suspension of licenses for new LNG terminals is one of the sorest spots between Biden and the fossil fuel industry. Renewing those licenses, which will likely happen on Trump’s first day in office, is probably the one action the administration can take that can have the most immediate impact on the global energy market.

Prospects for increasing domestic oil production are hazy no matter what Trump does. But demand for US gas exports are more promising, as evidenced by the news this week that Venture Global, an LNG exporter, is moving ahead with one of the biggest initial public offerings for an energy company in US stock market history. Wright specifically endorsed new LNG projects in Alaska and Pennsylvania, and said that increasing US gas exports will drive domestic prices down, the opposite conclusion reached by a DOE report in December.

“Fossil fuels have fallen out of fashion and out of favor,” he said. “Even though it’s a critical technology for us, there’s been less interest to invest in it. I don’t share those aversions.”

If Wright’s approach is to repackage many existing “clean energy” policies as “energy security” policies, with the same underlying technologies, it remains to be seen whether that vision will eventually clash with Trump’s. The fate of clean energy tax credits will be out of Wright’s hands, and are instead the prerogative of Congress and of Treasury Secretary-nominee Scott Bessent. And Wright may also face internal resistance to his grid modernization efforts. Trump’s pick for Wright’s deputy, James Danly, was a federal grid regulator during Trump’s first term. During that time, he opposed policies aimed at clearing the path for more low-carbon energy sources to plug into the grid, said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School: “He’s a techno-pessimist who seems to believe that power systems need to be rooted in steam-powered generators, as they always have been.”

Hearings on Trump’s other key climate and energy nominees — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum at Interior, and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency — will take place today, and could be more contentious. Burgum, a major oil and gas ally, will likely face questions about drilling and mining on federal lands. Zeldin, a relative neophyte on federal climate and energy policy, will be asked to defend Trump’s plans to eviscerate federal regulations on power plant and vehicle emissions.