Chris Wright: Guilty as Charged (DeSmog backfires again)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 4, 2025

“The energy and climate dialog is fraught with so many challenges. Let’s not compound the problem by using destructively deceptive terms like climate crisis, energy transition, carbon pollution, clean energy, and dirty energy. These terms are nonsense. Let’s just be honest.” (- Chris Wright, quoted below)

DeSmog’s “Climate Disinformation Database” is so filled with quality and quantity that non-members are itching to join. The thousand or so should be doubled, tripled. Maybe a phone book will be necessary as the political winds shift from stale alarmism to CO2/fossil fuel optimism.

The latest profile belongs to the new head of the U.S. Department of Energy, Chris Wright, who blew through his confirmation hearings and was confirmed in a bipartisan vote, 59 to 39.

Democrats, not only Republicans and independents, are excited. What a great person! And a great pick! But he needs to shut down and minimize the civilian side of DOE for consumers, taxpayers, and fiscal responsibility.

Here is DeSmog’s “exposé,” really a tribute.

According to Wright, “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition.” He has also claimed that “any negative impacts from climate change were clearly overwhelmed by the benefits of increasing energy consumption.”⁸

Wright described Bjorn Lomborg, who downplays the climate crisis, as a “friend” and Lomborg’s book as “fantastic” in a 2020 interview.⁹

The CO2 Coalition, which celebrates carbon dioxide as “essential for life,” approved Wright and mentioned him in their newsletter. ^10 11

In an interview with DeSmog, CO2 coalition executive director Gregory Wright commented, “The main thing that he [Wright] and I and the CO2 Coalition agree on is that increasing CO2 is a net benefit, it’s not the demon molecule, it’s the miracle molecule.”¹²

Alex Epstein, who has described the green movement as “fundamentally an anti-human movement,”¹³ and has claimed there is no climate emergency, ¹⁴ wrote a commentary piece titled “Why I Strongly Support Chris Wright for Secretary of Energy.”¹⁵

According to Wright’s LinkedIn account, he has been a board member of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) since January 2007 and also a board member of the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) since the same date.¹⁶

PERC and PRI have long been US members of the Atlas Network, and the network still publishes its membership online.¹⁷ DeSmog has reported on the Atlas Network’s behind-the-scenes influence on issues such as the vilification of climate activists.¹⁸

And these quotations:

““There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.“

“These five terms: climate crisis, energy transition, carbon pollution, clean energy, and dirty energy are not only deceptive, they are in fact destructive deceptions. Destructive because they drive centrist politicians and regulators to oppose life-critical infrastructure like building pipelines and natural gas export terminals.”

“…  any negative impacts from climate change were clearly overwhelmed by the benefits of increasing energy consumption.“

“We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, or floods, despite endless fear-mongering of the media, politicians and activists. This is not my opinion. This is the facts, as contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.”

“Energy transition is another term that has been used to justify policies that deploy large government subsidies and mandates to enrich well-off and connected, while impoverishing everyone else. Yes, I am one of those needlessly enriched by these destructive policies, as increasing barriers to oil and gas production have predictably driven up prices and delivered record profitability in the oil and gas industry. “

“haven’t these trillions of dollars of subsidies over 20 or 30 years driven at least the start of a real energy transition? In short, no. World demand for oil, natural gas, and coal hit all-time records last year.”

“Carbon pollution is the most shameful marketing term that I’ve ever heard….  Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is a greenhouse gas. Confusing these two is frightening kids.”

““Clean energy and dirty energy are two other fact-free, shameless marketing labels….  It would be hard to call wind or solar clean or low environmental impact with a straight face.

“The energy and climate dialog is fraught with so many challenges. Let’s not compound the problem by using destructively deceptive terms like climate crisis, energy transition, carbon pollution, clean energy, and dirty energy. These terms are nonsense. Let’s just be honest.”