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Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Here's How Much Energy Secretary Chris Wright Is Worth
Chris Wright testifies on his nomination to be Secretary of Energy at a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on January 15, 2025. Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images C hris Wright took to social media in 2019 to market his oil-and-gas company in an unorthodox way: by taking a swig of fracking fluid from a dixie cup. 'We're doing this demonstration to illustrate that the biggest challenge with energy in the world today isn't toxic chemicals in frac fluid,' he said. 'It's the fact that so many people around the world don't have access to energy that makes long, healthy, wonderful lives possible.' Energy—specifically fracking—has certainly led to a wonderful life for Wright, who cashed in with a series of companies, downplaying the threat of climate change along the way. He ran publicly traded Liberty Energy until the moment Donald Trump made him secretary of energy, then entered office with a fortune of roughly $100 million, enough to make him one of the president's wealthier cabinet secretaries, alongside Howard Lutnick (net worth: $3.3 billion), Linda McMahon ($3.3 billion), Scott Bessent ($600 million) and Doug Burgum (over $100 million). Born in New Jersey and raised in Denver, Colorado, Wright studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. In 1992, when he was just 27 years old, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which developed hydraulic fracture mapping technology that could measure how fractures grow underground. His timing could not have been much better, coming just before America's fracking revolution. In 2000, while still serving as CEO of Pinnacle, Wright also became chairman of Stroud Energy, a shale-gas production company based in Fort Worth, Texas. He cashed in on Pinnacle in 2002 when Carbo Ceramics bought the company, earning Wright an estimated $9 million in cash and stock. Four years later, Range Resources bought Stroud for about $450 million, and Wright's stake in Stroud was enough to make him tens of millions—and earn him a sabbatical. Wright took a break from the oil-and-gas hubbub after tying up the Stroud deal and finishing his time as CEO of Pinnacle in 2006. 'I went from two jobs to zero jobs, and I thought, 'This is great,'' Wright said. 'I coached my kids' soccer, basketball and little league baseball teams. I did some bike racing.' Around the same time, Wright bought property in Big Sky, Montana, where he built a home at the exclusive Yellowstone Club, the private ski resort now frequented by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Brady and reportedly Taylor Swift. After a few years off, Wright was drawn back into the oil and gas industry. He rounded up some of his old colleagues from Pinnacle and founded Liberty Resources in 2010 while moving from San Francisco to Denver, initially focusing on developing land in the Bakken fields of North Dakota. When he wasn't satisfied with the available frackers, he cofounded his own fracking services firm, Liberty Oilfield Services. The industry took a turn for the worse from 2014-2016, and Wright shifted his focus from Liberty Resources to the service business to try to save the jobs threatened by the downturn. 'Ultimately, people and culture, to me, are the most exciting part of any business,' Wright said. 'I'd never laid off anyone in my life, and I wanted to keep that record alive.' Wright's focus shift ended up being a good move. After going public in 2018, Liberty's stock struggled amid industry downturns and the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright doubled-down, buying oil-and-gas giant Schlumberger's OneStim business, which provided pressure pumping services in the U.S. and Canada. In October 2021, Liberty acquired PropX, which expanded Liberty's ability to deliver and handle proppant, a key substance that keeps fractures in rock open after frac fluid is withdrawn. The company now consistently generates more than $4 billion of annual revenue, four times as much as it did in 2020. 'He's not only extremely smart, he's also a very good business leader,' says Waqar Syed, an analyst covering Liberty Energy for ATB Capital Markets. 'He knows how to convert these great ideas into business ideas, and to make money off it for himself and other shareholders.' Wright served as Liberty's CEO and chairman from the company's inception until he left for Washington earlier this year. At the time he entered the Cabinet, Wright held a 1.6% stake in Liberty Energy worth roughly $50 million. Ethics rules required him to sell his shares shortly after taking office, which proved to be a stroke of good luck for Wright. Liberty's share price has fallen by almost 40% since he resigned, a result of what energy analysts say is another industry-wide downturn. Wright also divested shares of other major energy companies, including Chevron and Expand Energy, putting another $6 million or so in his pocket. He still owns a few smaller oil-and-gas investments, worth less than $1 million apiece. Without the big energy investments, Wright's most valuable holding is now his woodland mansion in the Yellowstone Club, which sits on about six acres, measures 9,500 square feet and is worth an estimated $38 million before debt. Wright also has a couple of homes in the Denver area, worth a total of about $4.5 million before debt, as well as investments in real estate portfolios with properties across the U.S. and Mexico. Other holdings include stakes in BioFire, a private gun manufacturing company making 'smart guns,' and Wayfare Tavern, a San Francisco restaurant. Not that he's focusing much on any of holdings these days now that he's busy working for the president. Wright met Trump in April 2024. 'It was a fabulous dinner dialogue with a number of energy leaders at Mar-a-Lago,' Wright told Forbes. 'I've met politicians before, and they want to have a tagline and take a photo with you. But he wanted to go back and forth and dialogue about energy.' The interaction made him enthusiastic about accepting the job when Trump asked him to be energy secretary. In his new role, Wright—who is called a 'climate denier' by critics but sees himself as a 'climate realist'—seems mostly interested in helping the industry that made him rich. As he told Fox News last month, 'More energy is better than less energy. More affordable energy is better than more expensive energy. It's just common sense.' Forbes Fracker Chris Wright, Trump's Energy Pick, Isn't A Climate Denier–He's A Pragmatist By Christopher Helman Forbes 'The Most Hated Guy On Wall Street': The Unspoken Story Around Howard Lutnick, Trump's Pick For Commerce Secretary By Dan Alexander Forbes Here's How Much Pete Hegseth Is Worth—And It's Less Than You Might Think By Kyle Khan-Mullins
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump and Congress Target 'Efficiency' Rules That Hobble Home Appliances
Taking up space in my kitchen is a G.E. dishwasher. We rarely use it because, frankly, it sucks. Too often, dishes must be rewashed after a cycle long enough that it might scrub the glaze from the ceramic, obviating the point of having an appliance dedicated to that task. My complaint isn't isolated; Americans have complained for years that appliances which once saved time and energy now produce frustration—largely because of regulations that hobble their ability to function. To their credit, the Trump administration and members of Congress are rolling back red tape and liberating appliances. The result should be expanded choices in labor saving devices that do what we want and do so more affordably. "Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum to eliminate restrictive water pressure and efficiency rules that make household appliances less effective and more expensive," the White House announced May 9. The order directs the Secretary of Energy to "review and rescind—or revert to the minimum standards required by statute—rules that limit water use in showerheads, faucets, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, and washing machines," to clarify "the scope of federal preemption of state rules for water use" in appliances, and to "pause enforcement [of any] rules mentioned in the memorandum until they are rescinded or revised." It also directs the Secretary of Energy to work with Congress to repeal intrusive laws that dictate water usage and efficiency standards to Americans. This recent regulatory move follows an earlier action addressing deregulation of showerheads. It's no secret the federal government has been trying to make our household appliances greener for many years and that, despite innovation by manufacturers, regulatory intervention has had an unfortunate effect on performance. "Why do today's dishwashers typically take more than 2 hours to run through a normal cycle when less than a hour was common in the past?" George Mason University economics professor Alex Tabarrok wrote in January of 2024. "The reason is absurd energy and water 'conservation' rules. These rules, imposed on dish and clothes washers, have made these products perform worse than in the past, cleaning less well or much more slowly." Supporting his point that washers have become less effective, Tabarrok cited a 2007 article from Consumer Reports that noted: Not so long ago you could count on most washers to get your clothes very clean. Not anymore…. As of January, the U.S. Department of Energy has required washers to use 21 percent less energy, a goal we wholeheartedly support. But our tests have found that traditional top-loaders, those with the familiar center-post agitators, are having a tough time wringing out those savings without sacrificing cleaning ability, the main reason you buy a washer. Writing in 2019 for the American Institute of Economic Research, Jeffrey Tucker added: "Dishwashers used to wash all the dishes in under one hour. Now they take two hours, three hours, and four hours, and still don't get the dishes clean…. All of this is directly due to government regulations." Modern appliances attempt to make up for restrictions on water use by stretching out the cleaning time, but experience in the kitchen suggests that's not doing the job. Interestingly, Tabarrok's January 2024 post celebrated a Fifth Circuit court ruling against efforts by the Biden administration to undo deregulatory actions Trump took during his first term to expand choice in appliances. While Biden was unable to fully reregulate through executive action what his predecessor had deregulated that way, a lot of red tape remained in place, especially rules passed by Congress. That means Trump's memorandum directing executive agencies to back off "efficiency" rules could run up against limits established by statutory law and could again be challenged through actions by his successors—that is, if it was unaccompanied by matching legislation. Fortunately, Congress sent to the White House, and Trump signed, laws repealing Biden administration's energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers, restrictions on gas-fired tankless water heaters, and an energy conservation program for appliances. In terms of freeing the market from government interference, these legislative changes come closer to permanence than presidential directives to executive agencies can by themselves. "From increasing the costs of refrigeration equipment used by small businesses to regulating reporting requirements for appliance manufacturers to banning gas-fired water heaters, the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to impose a far-left agenda that put Green New Deal-style policies ahead of the American people," commented Rep. Brett Guthrie (R–Ky.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, upon the signing of the bills into law. Responding specifically to Trump's executive action, Devin Watkins, attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), observed: "Federal limits on water and energy use have made appliances slower and less effective, frustrating consumers and limiting their choices. The water restrictions on dishwashers and clothes washers were found to violate the law by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, yet the Biden administration imposed them anyway. President Trump's new executive order marks a return to consumer choice—allowing Americans to purchase appliances that are faster, more effective, and better suited to their needs." CEI has done a lot of heavy lifting over the years to fight rules and laws that limit choices in appliances, showerheads (another Trump concern), and light bulbs. The regulatory change during Trump's first term that expanded options for faster dishwasher's was initiated by a petition submitted by the organization, which Watkins co-wrote. CEI emphasizes that government intervention doesn't only reduce the range of options available to consumers even as it harms performance, it also raises costs so that we often end up paying more money for lousier products. So, it's encouraging to see members of Congress and the Trump administration rolling back "efficiency" rules that render many appliances largely ineffective. A combination of legislation and executive action is exactly what's needed to trim back a federal government that has intruded too far into our choices and our homes. It's too late to save my dishwasher. But I hold out hope that I'll eventually replace that waste of space with a device that actually washes dishes. The post Trump and Congress Target 'Efficiency' Rules That Hobble Home Appliances appeared first on
