Senator Mike Lee used his opening statement during his first hearing as
Charman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on
Wednesday to welcome President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of
Energy, Chris Wright. Chris Wright is the chairman and CEO of Liberty
Energy and Senator Lee spoke at length about the future he sees under
Wright’s leadership to lower skyrocketing costs for American, strengthen
the security of our country, and to unleash American energy dominance.
Senator Lee later took time for a phone interview with Evans Family Media
and went into even more detail about the appointment of Chris Wright, who
is tied to the Uintah Basin as Liberty Energy is an energy service provider
here. “He’s not what you would think of as a hands-off executive,” shares
Senator Lee, speaking of Wright. “He is very hands on, very down to earth,
and very engaged in every aspect of the business. In fact, he writes many
of his own corporate reports.”
Senator Lee shares about one he cited in Wednesday’s Committee hearing
during which Wright analyzes every aspect of the energy industry.
“…Analyzing things like environmental concerns, benefits to the American
people of having access to clean, abundant, consistent, affordable, reliable
sources of energy and how people in different parts of the world suffer to
the degree that they are deprived of those sources,” explains Senator Lee.
“Among other things in this report he cites an alarming statistic from other
countries including one government report from Kenya showing how
common it is in some parts of the world for people, especially children, to
die from lower respiratory infections brought about as a result of people not
having access to electric power and utilizing dung or wood for cooking and
heating their homes.” This results in particulate matter getting into the
lungs, especially of small children, and many people die from it. This is just
one of the many ways that he identifies that we all benefit from safe,
affordable, reliable electric power.
Senator Lee also speaks at length about the energy future of America. “I
know of now country on planet earth that has more energy infrastructure
and distributes that better and in a more responsible fashion than ours,”
says Senator Lee. ‘It makes no sense for us to import our energy from
other countries with poor environmental records, which nearly all countries
have compared to ours. It makes no sense for us to be guying oil, for
example, from countries with a combination of poor environmental records,
dismal human rights records, and in some cases countries where there are
a lot of people who hate us and might even use our petrol dollars to fund
acts of terrorism against us.”
Senator Lee also talks about lowering costs for families, national security,
and the economy. To listen to Senator Lee’s entire interview with Evans
Family Media, visit www.BasinNow.com and click on Public Affairs under
the Community tab.
