US Energy Secretary Is Trying to Change Blue-State Minds About Fossil Fuels

Chris Wright isn’t just rolling back Biden-era policies, he’s intent on resetting expectations.

By Jennifer A Dlouhy

Call it “the great energy reset.”

Trump administration officials increasingly consider the ongoing surge in electricity demand — and the clamor for economic development tied to it — as an opportunity to shift the paradigm around developing the necessary infrastructure.

In US President Donald Trump’s Washington, policies once focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions are being replaced by those promoting fuel production and building the network to transport it.

There’s perhaps no greater example of that than the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to unwind Biden-era curbs on power plant pollution that’s set to be unveiled today.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright already issued two emergency orders compelling the continued operation of a coal-fired facility in Michigan and a gas-and-oil plant in Pennsylvania.

Wright is sure there will be more such directives to come but, eventually, that will give way to “a change of mindset so that we don’t have to issue the emergency orders,” he said in an interview.

There’s an attitude shift happening far from the nation’s capital, as blue states and Democratic governors try to entice investment in power-hungry factories, aluminum smelters, data centers and other ventures, he said.

Abundant, cheap electricity is key to securing big-dollar investments, and while zero-emission options such as nuclear, wind and solar power can provide some generating capacity, Wright said there’s an increasing openness to using fossil fuels, too.

“Building large-scale pipelines and energy and transmission lines and energy infrastructure is a good thing,” Wright said. “It’s been a controversial thing for years. We’re going to reset that.”

To be sure, policy pivots in Washington won’t alter the science of climate change, even if the Trump administration is retreating from the fight against global warming. And many states see opportunities to lure investments and jobs while using more emission-free power, not building coal plants.

An even bigger challenge may be convincing Wall Street that the great energy paradigm shift will endure beyond two- and four-year election cycles.

Some investors are wary of going all in on Trump’s embrace of fossil fuels, given the risk a future president could chart their own 180-degree pivot.

Yet Wright is steadfast.

“Four years from now, that center point is going to be a meaningfully different place than it was at the start of these four years,” he said.

–Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg News

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