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Wright Delivers Plenary Remarks at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston, Mar. 23, 2026

March 23, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:11:48

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What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered plenary remarks at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston, Texas, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the March 23, 2026 address. Wright said the administration had ended the previous administration’s pause on LNG permitting and approved over 18 billion cubic feet a day of new LNG export permits in the 13 months since — an amount that alone, he said, would make America by far the world’s largest natural gas exporter.

Wright’s centerpiece was Winter Storm Fern, the late-January cold wave he said hit 22 eastern states: using his department’s authorities, he said, the administration stopped the premature closure of 17 gigawatts of coal power plants that had been slated to retire, capacity he credited with preventing significant blackouts during the storm. He said natural gas produced 47 percent more electricity during Fern’s peak week than in the same week a year earlier, coal 24 percent more, nuclear flat, and wind 40 percent less, as he stated the performance figures. He also said three next-generation reactors were on track to be running by July 4, 2026, the goal President Trump set for the 250th anniversary, and that IEA members had quickly agreed to release 400 million barrels of petroleum stocks against the disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, as he described the agreement. In the Q&A session that followed, Wright took questions on the Hormuz disruption’s impact on energy flows and critical materials.

Why it matters

CERAWeek is the energy industry’s flagship room, and Wright used it for a first-year report card with checkable numbers: LNG permits, the Fern coal decision, the reactor deadline, and the coordinated stock release — the fullest single statement of his department’s record to that date.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Secretary Wright’s CERAWeek claims, March 23, 2026 — over 18 Bcf/d of LNG export permits in 13 months; 17 GW of coal closures stopped ahead of Winter Storm Fern; three next-generation reactors running by July 4, 2026; and a 400-million-barrel IEA stock release agreement, all as he stated them. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Plenary Remarks at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston, Texas - March 23, 2026” (official upload, embedded above); U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Participates in Q&A at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston, Texas - March 23, 2026” (official upload of the Q&A session at the same event; remarks as delivered by Secretary Wright).