John Hoeven: “I am pleased to come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to confirm Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy. Mr.…”

“I am pleased to come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to confirm Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy. Mr. Wright has demonstrated tremendous leadership in the energy industry over the past more than 30 years. He is a true pioneer in advancing new technologies that unlocked the shale energy revolution in our country. When I started as Governor of North Dakota in 2000, our State was producing about 100,000 barrels of oil per day, but that production was declining. We produced from the old traditional vertical wells, going down as much as 2 miles in some cases, some cases more. So we had to do something different. We started a new energy plan. We called it EmPower North Dakota to promote the development of all of our energy resources to help make our State the energy powerhouse that it is today. We developed the right regulatory and tax climate to encourage energy development. We worked to bring talent to our State with the best entrepreneurial mindset. That included energy leaders like Mr. Wright, people that have the latest and greatest understanding of new technologies and the power to innovate. Mr. Wright has said he became fascinated with energy at a young age, working on fusion energy and later solar energy during his studies at MIT and then graduate school at UC Berkeley. He started Pinnacle Technologies, the company that actually started the hydraulic fracturing mapping industry.…”