AP: Trump’s Energy Sec nominee Chris Wright declares at confirmation hearing: ‘Climate change is a global challenge that we need to solve’

https://apnews.com/article/chris-wright-energy-trump-cabinet-picks-senate-hearing-7efa240238f13bc8930dadf4a1519cc6

Excerpt: Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary, told senators during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would promote all sources of American energy, while also acknowledging the burning of fossil fuels causes climate change.

Wright, a fossil fuel executive, has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He believes that more fossil fuel production can lift people out of poverty around the globe. His nomination went before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for a confirmation hearing. Protesters interrupted it multiple times.

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Wright says the burning of fossil fuels causes climate change
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he thinks Wright’s position on climate change is “more subtle than is publicly recognized” and that he doesn’t deny climate change is happening or that it’s related to the combustion of fossil fuels, which are drastically increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Wright responded “absolutely,” adding that “mostly from the combustion of hydrocarbons to enable our modern world, we’ve increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by 50%,” making it harder for the Earth to shed heat.

Though he said climate change is real, he also said “there isn’t dirty energy or clean energy.” Rather, he said, there are different sources of energy with different tradeoffs.

“Energy is critical to human lives. Climate change is a global challenge that we need to solve,” Wright said. “And tradeoffs between those two are the decisions politicians make and they’re the decisions that will impact the future of our world and our quality of life.”

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Protesters interrupted the confirmation hearing multiple times
One protester yelled “LA is burning” and another shouted “I’m 18 years old and I want a future!” They held up signs that read, “big oil profits, LA burns.”

A disruption prompted the Republican Committee Chair, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, to briefly halt the hearing, saying the committee would stand in recess until the Capitol Police could restore order.