BROWNSVILLE, Texas - US Energy Secretary Chris Wright was at the Port of Brownsville on Tuesday where his stop included a boat tour along the ship channel.
He said the Rio Grande Valley’s largest city is a community on the move where more manufacturing, export and energy jobs are being created.
As a result of that, he said, people will see an increase in more federal partnership projects.
Wright was here on behalf of Vice President JD Vance who was supposed to be in Brownsville but cancelled the trip because of an official schedule change.
Asked what the purpose was for his visit here, Wright said he wanted to talk about a number of things people should know.
“I have spoken with Vice President Vance for some time about coming down here,” he said on Tuesday, Aug. 2 in the Brownsville Navigation District media room. “Vice President Vance and President Trump view Brownsville as encapsulating the Trump administration to build big things in America.”
Projects such as SpaceX, the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and the first refinery to be built in more than 50 years are perfectly in sync with the current administration, he said.
In simple terms, he said the Trump administration’s goal is to build big things in America again.
An example of that, he mentioned the projects taking in place in Brownsville. He believes the energy produced in this part of the country can be exported from here to “our friends and allies all around the world.”
Wright said President Trump is committed to lowering energy prices and shares the concerns of many others that Iran can’t be allowed to develop and have nuclear weapons.
“I do believe we are very close to our objective, to reach an agreement. This not with the people of Iran but with the Iran government,” he said. “Stop impeding the flow (of oil) in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The energy secretary took the occasion to point to some of the failures of the Biden Administration. One such, he said, was letting some 14 million of undocumented immigrants into the country over four years.
He said the United States is a country of immigrants but President Trump is against illegal immigration.
As for today’s gasoline prices, going for more than $1 dollar a gallon since the war with Iran began several months ago, Wright said gasoline prices are high but not to the level they were during President Biden.
“We want to see gasoline and diesel prices down,” he said. “Very quickly.”
John Reed, commissioner with the Brownsville Navigation Board, said they were thrilled to have the energy secretary here.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “He is now going on a boat.”
