President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he has chosen the founder and CEO of Denver-based fossil fuel company Liberty Energy Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy as secretary.
Wright is known as a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, according to multiple outlets.
Trump said Wright would also serve as a member of the "newly-formed Council of National Energy."
"The Council of National Energy will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy," said Trump in a statement. "This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation."
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Wright will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Secretary of Energy.
According to the biography provided by the president-elect, Wright received an undergrad degree in mechanical engineering from MIT before graduate work at the University of California Berkeley.
Prior to Liberty Energy, Wright's past experience included founding Pinnacle Technologies and serving as chairman of Stroud Energy.
Trump also announced Saturday that William Owen Scharf will serve as Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary.
Trump described Scharf as a "highly-skilled attorney" with an education from Harvard Law School and Princeton. His background includes serving as a federal prosecutor and clerking for two federal appeals court judges.
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