{"id":1050784,"date":"2025-01-15T15:01:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T20:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050784"},"modified":"2025-01-15T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T20:01:49","slug":"new-trumps-energy-secretary-pick-stands-by-dismissing-deadly-wildfires-as-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-energy-secretary-pick-stands-by-dismissing-deadly-wildfires-as-hype\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW: Trump’s Energy Secretary Pick \u201cStand[s] By\u201d Dismissing Deadly Wildfires As \u201cHype\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to Chris Wright\u2019s dismissal of deadly wildfires in California as \u201chype,\u201d<\/em> DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile ongoing wildfires continue to devastate California, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Energy Department, Chris Wright, is still standing by his appalling comments dismissing deadly wildfires as \u2018hype.\u2019 Wright\u2019s baseless comments aren\u2019t just offensive \u2013 they show once again that Trump and his Cabinet picks are willing to play politics when it comes to Americans\u2019 safety and well-being while pursuing an extreme, climate-denying agenda that would hurt working families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump\u2019s pick for energy secretary, Chris Wright, doubled down on his baseless comments about climate change, calling wildfires \u201chype.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Padilla:<\/a> \u201cYou\u2019ve written that the \u2018the hype over wildfires is just hype.\u2019 \u2026 Given the devastation we\u2019re currently experiencing in Los Angeles, do you still believe that wildfires are just \u2018hype?\u2019 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Wright: \u201cI stand by my past comments.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump\u2019s pick for energy secretary rejects linking climate change and wildfires\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWright, who has declared there is no \u2018climate crisis,\u2019 has also argued that climate change has not fueled more frequent and severe wildfires \u2014 a claim at odds with the scientific consensus. \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a 2021 appearance on the PetroNerds podcast, Wright criticized mainstream media outlets for drawing a connection between wildfires and warming<\/strong>. Wildfires are \u2018a major thing in the news now,\u2019 he said. \u2018It\u2019s climate change. It\u2019s climate change.\u2019 \u2026 The short answer: It is not.\u2019 <\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the summer of 2023, as smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfed the East Coast, Wright wrote on LinkedIn that \u2018the hype over wildfires is just hype to justify\u2019 harmful climate policies. <\/strong>He linked to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish political scientist and author who contends that experts have overstated the negative impacts of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his briefing on the California wildfires in 2020, Trump ignored experts and said he didn\u2019t \u201cthink science knows\u201d if the threat of climate change was real.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPR<\/a>: \u201c\u2018I Don’t Think Science Knows\u2019: Visiting Fires, Trump Denies Climate Change\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith wildfires devastating the West and a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, President Trump, who has for years mocked and denied the reality of climate change<\/strong>, was briefed on Monday on the status of fires in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStill, even as more than two dozen wildfires roared across California alone, Trump declined to acknowledge the role climate change likely played in fueling the flames.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBS News<\/a>: \u201cTrump says \u2018I don’t think science knows\u2019 about climate\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn California, [Trump] questioned climate change<\/strong>, and blamed the fires on poor forest management even though many forests in California are federally managed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCalifornia National Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot disagreed that the rapidly spreading wildfires could entirely be blamed on forest management. He told Mr. Trump, \u2018We want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate, and what it means to our forests.\u2019 Crowfoot warned, \u2018If we ignore that science, and sort of put our head in the sand, and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed together protecting Californians.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Trump] claimed the climate would \u2018start getting cooler.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018I wish science agreed with you,\u2019 Crowfoot replied. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018I don’t think science knows,\u2019 [Trump] responded.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump called climate change \u201cone of the greatest con jobs ever\u201d after he spent every single year in office gutting and undermining environmental protections and regulations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump<\/a>: \u201cSo now they called it climate change because climate change covers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

everything. If it gets warm, if it gets cold. Climate change is one of the greatest con jobs ever<\/strong>, because \u2018global warming\u2019 didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cOver four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press<\/a>: \u201c[Trump] rolled back dozens of environmental rules he considered overly burdensome on businesses. Many of the regulations were designed to protect the environment and public health, but were viewed by the Trump administration as costly and unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cTrump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to most federal agency budgets \u2026 The EPA\u2019s budget would see a nearly 27 percent chop.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slate<\/a>: \u201cIn Trump\u2019s budget, which was also released today, the discretionary budget for the \u2026 [EPA] is cut by $2.8 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolling Stone<\/a>: \u201c[Trump] dismissed the idea that climate change is anything to worry about.<\/strong> \u2018The oceans are going to rise 1\/100 th of an inch in the next 300 years and it\u2019s going to kill everybody,\u2019 he said sarcastically. \u2018It\u2019s going create more oceanfront property, that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a>: \u201cDonald Trump told host Stuart Varney that climate change is \u2018a hoax.\u2019 <\/strong>The former president said \u2018in my opinion, you have a thing called weather, and you go up, and you go down,\u2019 he said. \u2018If you look into the 1920s, they were talking about a global freezing, okay? In other words, the globe was going to freeze.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump reiterated some of his frequently repeated falsehoods and petty grievances. \u2018The global warming hoax, it just never ends,\u2019<\/strong> he said. He mocked the concept of sea levels rising, disputing widely held science. \u2018To which I say, great, we have more waterfront property,\u2019 he said. \u2018There was a big thing about global cooling \u2014 what will be next?\u2019 he said. Trump said he was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

more concerned about \u2018nuclear warming\u2019 than global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to Chris Wright\u2019s dismissal of deadly wildfires in California as \u201chype,\u201d DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: \u201cWhile ongoing wildfires continue to devastate California, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Energy Department, Chris Wright, is still standing by his appalling comments dismissing deadly wildfires as \u2018hype.\u2019 Wright\u2019s baseless comments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNEW: Trump's Energy Secretary Pick \u201cStand[s] By\u201d Dismissing Deadly Wildfires As \u201cHype\u201d - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-energy-secretary-pick-stands-by-dismissing-deadly-wildfires-as-hype\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T20:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T20:01:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-energy-secretary-pick-stands-by-dismissing-deadly-wildfires-as-hype\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-energy-secretary-pick-stands-by-dismissing-deadly-wildfires-as-hype\/\",\"name\":\"NEW: Trump's Energy Secretary Pick \u201cStand[s] By\u201d Dismissing Deadly Wildfires As \u201cHype\u201d - 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