ExxonKnews
October 2, 2025
“There are not oil and gas subsidies,” Chris Wright, the top energy official for the U.S. government — which will now provide more than $34 billion a year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry — told a room full of reporters and climate advocates last week.
Five days later, the Energy Department announced it would deliver $625 million in new subsidies to the coal industry after adding “Tax breaks/tax credits/subsidies” to an ever-expanding list of words its officials are banned from using.
Still, when Wright, the U.S. Energy Secretary and a former fracking executive, sat down for a live interview with New York Times’ David Gelles at Climate Week, he objected when Gelles said that the oil and gas industry enjoys massive tax incentives and publicly funded subsidies. “In the United States, oil and gas and coal are huge taxpayers, and don’t have any subsidies that I’m aware of, and I’ve been in the business for forty years,” Wright said.
