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Nominee Wright pledges ethics disclosures, visits to labs and support for transmission reforms
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Summary
At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Mr. Wright, the nominee for secretary, pledged to visit India and Los Alamos National Laboratory if confirmed, said he has submitted ethics disclosures and will avoid conflicts, and expressed support for transmission-permitting reforms and continued DOE support for grid projects.
Mr. Wright, the nominee for secretary of energy, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that he would visit both India and Los Alamos National Laboratory during his first year if confirmed and that he has submitted ethics disclosures and will take steps to avoid conflicts of interest.
The exchange opened when a senator asked, “Will you commit to visiting both India and Los Alamos National Labs in your 1st year if you're confirmed to secretary?” Wright responded, “I will absolutely commit to visit those 2 prestigious and hallowed institutions, and I would coordinate love to coordinate with your staff.”
The senator asked Wright about divestment plans and avoiding not only actual conflicts but appearances of conflicts. Wright said that the appropriate ethics officials had reviewed his investments and other interests and that he had “agreed to take all the appropriate action to avoid any real conflicts or perceived conflicts of interest. I'm fully aligned with you there, senator.”
The senator also asked whether Wright would follow the law if the Office of Management and Budget director attempted to direct the Department of Energy not to fund a program that Congress had appropriated. Wright answered, “My my, my mission, the only way I roll would be to follow the laws and statutes of the of the United States of America.”
On transmission and permitting, the senator noted that the Senate committee had advanced a comprehensive permitting bill in the last Congress by a 15–4 vote that included transmission reforms, and asked whether transmission permitting reform should be part of any broader permitting package. Wright said the United States had a long history of making electricity more affordable and the grid more reliable, but that in recent years “we've seen electricity prices go up and the reliability of the grid go down.” He said he agreed that building new transmission lines and repowering existing lines is “very important to meet this growing demand of energy” and to improve reliability.
Wright cited the Department of Energy’s Transmission Facilitation Program and the Grid Deployment Office as having supported projects such as the South Line Transmission Project, saying those projects “will save customers money and they increase grid reliability.” When the senator raised that Project 2025 had proposed eliminating the Grid Deployment Office, Wright said he is “aligned with you and will seek to find the best ways to improve our transmission grid, including expansion and new lines.”
The exchange consisted of questions from one senator and answers from the nominee; no formal committee votes or decisions were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
