Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trump’s Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda

Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has blocked renewable energy development and attacked climate change policy, prioritized fossil fuels and encouraged nuclear energy, and started a war that led to a global oil and gas supply shock.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has been the face of much of that policy agenda. For this episode of Shift Key, he joined Rob for a live conversation at our Heatmap House event, part of New York Climate Week. He answered questions about the Trump administration’s war on wind, a ban on diesel fuel exports, and how China has been able to buttress global oil supplies since the spring.

Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News.

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Here is an excerpt from their conversation:

Robinson Meyer: Okay, let’s move to wind. So broadly, the Trump administration has seemed to have an issue with wind. It has taken a number of measures to block wind permits. I realize not all of these measures happened within the Department of Energy, but they have happened throughout the government. This has happened at the same time the grid is screaming for new sources of energy. So why wouldn’t a policy of American energy dominance embrace all forms of American energy, including wind?

Chris Wright: I would say it does. But there have been serious concerns in rural America and certainly in coastal America about development of wind farms. With the war in Russia, Ukraine, you see the change with drones. So there are legitimate national security concerns. I hope there’s mitigations and solutions to work it out. I suspect there will be, but I wouldn’t take all the administration’s activity as somehow like just to hamstring wind. There’s reasons for what’s going on behind the scenes. And I think you’ll see a robust development pathway going forward.

Meyer: Do you think that — I would say that it is hard to believe that, necessarily, when the president has been so personally vocal about wind?

Wright: He is not a fan of wind energy. I will give you that. But also when you talk about it, I’ll give you that 100%. The other thing I think you’ve got to look at is, what he cares about is grid security and affordability of prices in the United States. He wants to reshore modern manufacturing here. We want to lead in artificial intelligence, which means you’ve got to have a grid that’s affordable as possible and that’s secure. What matters for an electricity grid is who’s there at peak demand time.

You know, we had a very cold, very cold East Coast this year. On January 27 in the evening, peak demand time in New England, wind, solar, and batteries combined were 2% of New England electric generation. We got 3% from burning trash in wood. So, you know, when we talk about the average amount of electricity generated by sources, this and that, it’s not a realistic representation of what underlines and secures the grid.

Our main thing was 35 years of subsidies is enough. Let’s take the training wheels off and let things run from there. There are roles for different energy technologies in different places, but mandating things, forcing things on, and subsidizing things for decades, it just makes energy more expensive.

Meyer: So the subsidies for wind are going away. They were repealed. They were in the Inflation Reduction Act. They were repealed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. I think the level of obstacles that we’ve seen from the administration has exceeded kind of just subsidies. It’s been any kind of permitted delay. You know, offices that previously approved permits are now, we’re blocking them. Do you think that this, first of all, why kind of block things if the subsidies have gone away? And two, do you think that is going to change going forward?

Wright: So look, I’m not at the center of that. That’s Interior, that’s Department of War. Those are other issues really outside of my purview. You’re right. Wind has been very controversial, and there have been very spirited dialogues in the administration about this. I do believe a successful permitting reform thing changes the playing field for anything you want to build in this country, including wind.

You can find a full transcript of the episode here.

Mentioned:

Chris Wright Doesn’t Think We’ll Have a Diesel Export Ban

Trump Keeps Wind Farms Waiting Despite Court Ruling

Trump’s War Against Wind Energy: A Timeline

Previously on Shift Key: How China Saved the World From Trump’s Energy Crisis

This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by ...

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Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.