Sierra Club Statement on Chris Wright Confirmation Hearing for DOE

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Washington, DC - Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to consider the nomination of Chris Wright, an outspoken critic of policies aimed at curbing climate change and the transition to renewable energy sources, to run the Department of Energy. Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, a leading oil and fracked gas company.

In response, Sierra Club Director of Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy Mahyar Sorour released the following statement: 

“Chris Wright is the personification of ‘conflict of interest.’ He’s spent decades getting rich from polluting, dangerous fracking for methane gas and has denied the impacts to our health and the climate along the way. Wright made it clear that, if confirmed, he’d hinder clean energy investment and promote fossil fuels like LNG exports, further enriching himself and his fellow oil and gas CEOs while we continue to pay the price with more pollution and higher energy costs. As Americans from coast to coast are living with the catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis, the last thing we need is a climate-denying fossil fuel executive at the helm of our nation’s energy policy.” 

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About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.