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Wright at Cato Fireside Chat: Energy Is Foundational to Escaping Poverty

May 13, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:49:37

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Cato Institute president Peter Goettler introduced Energy Secretary Chris Wright for a fireside chat, describing Wright as an entrepreneur who played an integral role in the shale revolution and saying energy policy had been moving in the right direction under his leadership.

In the conversation, Wright recounted how his travels and interest in how people live led him to ask not what causes poverty but what gets people out of it. He identified institutions such as secure property rights and free markets, culture, and education as the pillars that allow people to escape poverty, saying a society with all three will not stay poor, and described energy as foundational to everything else.

The wide-ranging discussion covered Wright’s background in business and public service and the administration’s energy philosophy. Wright closed by praising a colleague who had dropped his work to jump into government service to help reform efforts, saying reform requires people willing to stop what they are doing and serve.

Why it matters

The Cato appearance is Wright’s longest-form statement of the philosophy behind the administration’s energy agenda: abundant energy as the precondition for the institutions and prosperity that end poverty, rather than an end in itself.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins a Fireside Chat with the Cato Institute - May 13, 2026”, 2026-05-13 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-05-13). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.