President-elect Donald Trump announced in a statement Saturday that he will nominate Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based energy company Liberty Energy, to be Secretary of Energy.

President Trump also announced the creation of a National Energy Council and said Wright would be a member of it.

“I am thrilled to announce that Chris Wright will be joining our administration as Secretary of Energy and as a member of the newly created National Energy Council,” President Trump said in a statement published on Truth Social. “

Wright is a strong advocate of oil and gas development, including hydraulic fracturing, a key part of President Trump’s mission to make the United States “energy dominant.” The president-elect noted that Wright has extensive experience in the energy industry, having worked in the nuclear, solar, geothermal, and oil and gas sectors.

President Trump provided further insight into the new National Energy Council, describing it as paving the way for energy dominance by eliminating unnecessary government regulation. (Related: Biden’s Energy Secretary Blames “International Situations and Climate Change” for Gas Price Rise)

“The National Energy Council is comprised of all departments and agencies involved in permitting, producing, generating, distributing, regulating, and transporting American Energy in all its forms. “Oversee America’s path to energy dominance by strengthening private sector investment across all sectors of the economy and focusing on innovation around long-standing but completely unnecessary regulations,” Trump’s statement reads. is written.

Wright has long worked with Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, who was selected by President Trump to serve as interior secretary and chairman of the National Energy Council.

“As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be an important leader, driving innovation, breaking through red tape, and ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American prosperity and world peace,'” President Trump said.