Trump Picks Climate-Denying Oil & Gas Magnate as Energy Sec. He Once Drank Fracking Fluid on Live TV

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report, as we continue our coverage from COP29 here in Baku, Azerbaijan. I’m Amy Goodman.

We look at what Donald Trump’s reelection as U.S. president means for the climate. Clean energy and environmental advocates are raising alarm over Trump’s nomination of oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright to serve as energy secretary. Wright is a fracking magnate who has long championed fossil fuel production and publicly denied the existence of the climate crisis. He is the CEO of the Denver-based oil field firm Liberty Energy, serves on the board of Oklo, a nuclear power startup. Wright posted this video on his LinkedIn profile just last year.

CHRIS WRIGHT: There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either. Humans and all complex life on Earth is simply impossible without carbon dioxide, hence the term “carbon pollution” is outrageous. … There is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy. … These five terms — “climate crisis,” “energy transition,” “carbon pollution,” “clean energy” and “dirty energy” — are not only deceptive, they are in fact destructive deceptions.

AMY GOODMAN: Wright is also known for drinking a fracking fluid bleach cocktail on camera to prove it was safe. In a statement, Trump said Wright would be ushering in a so-called “Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace,” unquote.

Trump has also announced North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his pick to lead the Interior Department, a position currently held by Deb Haaland, who made history as the first Native American to ever serve as a cabinet secretary. Trump wrote in a statement, quote, “We will DRILL BABY DRILL, expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” unquote. Burgum was also tapped to head a newly created National Energy Council, which will seek to, quote, “enforce U.S. energy dominance,” unquote, globally.

For more, we’re joined here in Baku by Manish Bapna, president of the NRDC — that’s the Natural Resources Defense Council — and Natural Resources Defense Council Action.

So, we just have a few minutes at the end of this show. First respond to Chris Wright’s nomination, the climate denier, the fracking magnate, the man who drank bleach and fracking fluid on TV.

MANISH BAPNA: It is deeply troubling. It is startling but shouldn’t be a surprise in light of the fact of who nominated him. It’s particularly jarring as we sit here in Baku at the climate COP. We’re already flirting with 1.5 degrees. We have — already kind of behind the game in reducing emissions.

And now we have not only Chris Wright, but we have Doug Burgum as the head of interior, potentially, and Lee Zeldin as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. These are serious positions. They’re senior Cabinet positions in the next administration for the United States, you know, charged with protecting clean air, clean water, creating jobs for the future. And all of these nominations are just deeply troubling. They represent a significant regression at a time when we need to see much, much greater progress.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what are you doing about it? We said “nominate.” We didn’t say they are appointed —

MANISH BAPNA: Exactly.

AMY GOODMAN: — although that’s what President-elect Trump would like to see, is recess appointments. So, how are you organizing?

MANISH BAPNA: We are trying to shine a light on who they are and what they represent and how out of touch they are with what the public actually wants. When we see polling around the importance of clean air, clean water, protecting public health, creating jobs, lowering energy costs — the thing is that clean energy has been demonstrated to be more affordable, more reliable. It’s more energy secure than a lot of the other options that people are promoting. We even see, with the unprecedented progress that’s happened in the last few years with the Inflation Reduction Act, an incredible set of investments taking place all around the country. The Inflation Reduction Act has generated 85% of investments in red districts, in Republican districts. Sixty-eight percent of the jobs created are in Republican districts. We are demonstrating that clean energy is good for the entire country. And they’re going to take us backwards. And so, we’re going to do what we can to shine a light on their record and try to see if we could find the right people to lead these agencies. But if that is not possible, we will do what we can to hold them accountable.

AMY GOODMAN: So, having Energy Secretary Chris Wright, not only does President Trump — President-elect Trump, at this point, want recess appointments, he doesn’t want them backgrounded by the FBI. When you don’t have a hearing, you don’t learn about people’s financial investments, conflicts of interest. Trump himself has refused to sign ethics forms since October. What would that mean, a man who would stand to gain an enormous amount as head of energy company Liberty Energy?

MANISH BAPNA: All you have to do is follow the money, right? All three of these candidates — you look at someone like Chris Wright, who we heard what he said, and we know where he would actually benefit. He is the CEO of a fracking company. We have Doug Burgum, who played an important role in brokering a deal between President-elect Trump and oil and gas billionaires in Florida a couple months ago, when President-elect Trump said that for a billion dollars, he will provide favors to the oil and gas industry. You have to follow the money. And that is one of the biggest challenges we see in politics in the United States today, which has been exacerbated since Citizens United back in 2010. More money into politics, more corporate money into politics, has just created the challenges we’re seeing today.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk more about North Dakota Governor Burgum. Of course, North Dakota, the site of an epic battle in the last years around the Dakota Access Pipeline with the Energy Transfer Partners. But what it means to have him as head of the interior? And not only head of the interior, Donald Trump has said he will also serve as energy czar.

MANISH BAPNA: This is a huge job, right? The Department of the Interior is responsible for our public lands, about conservation, about how we use those public lands wisely for today and for tomorrow. And so, he’ll be in a position to expand oil and gas leasing in offshore water, on land, at a time when just last year’s COP, as you mentioned earlier, the international community recognized we needed to transition away from fossil fuels.

The United States is already the largest oil and gas producer in the world, increasing rapidly. And now we have someone who has promised to further accelerate oil and gas exploration in the United States, perhaps most notably will be lifting the pause on LNG exports that the Biden administration put in place just six months ago. And with someone like him responsible for energy across the entire administration, it creates real serious concerns about how we make sure that the United States stays focused on the clean energy transition. The one thing I would say, though —

AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.

MANISH BAPNA: — is that the clean energy transition in the United States is unstoppable. It’s going to hit some speed bumps now, but it will move forward.

AMY GOODMAN: Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Natural Resources Defense Council Action.

That does it for our show. Our deepest condolences to Karen Ranucci on the passing of her father. And a happy 80th birthday to Danny DeVito. I’m Amy Goodman, here in Baku, Azerbaijan.