For the better part of a decade, when Americans thought about energy, they thought about climate change: how to lower carbon emissions and wean the country off fossil fuels. That mindset produced policies like the initiative under the Biden administration to shutter functional coal plants in the name of climate targets. But between the rise of artificial intelligence, spiking electricity prices, and a more dangerous geopolitical landscape, something has shifted. Reliability, affordability, and abundance are back in the conversation. Americans have started asking a more basic question: Will the power be there when I need it?
Chris Wright, the head of the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, has built his entire career around that question. As one of the godfathers of fracking, he watched the shale boom rewrite the global math on energy security. When he took over the Department of Energy under Trump, Wright brought the same instinct with him. Instead of chasing net-zero targets, he has pursued energy abundance, embracing every source of power— yes, even fossil fuels.
I got the chance to talk with Wright recently. During our conversation we talked about:
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Why he believes fighting energy poverty matters more than chasing net-zero goals
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How he had to reopen and save coal plants that the previous administration had scheduled for shutdown
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His “all-of-the-above” approach, and why he believes his decisions will stop electricity prices from continuing to climb, and will eventually bring them down.
Read an abridged transcript of our conversation below.
Lucy Biggers: For people who aren’t familiar with your worldview, how do you think about energy differently from the way it is often presented in the mainstream media?
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