Tell Chris Wright: Stop Downplaying Extreme Heat Deaths

People are dying in extreme heat — and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is treating it like a distraction.

As Europe suffers through a deadly heat wave, the World Health Organization says more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since June 21 in connection with the record-breaking heat. But Wright reportedly downplayed the danger by arguing that “more people die in the winter” and that cold is a bigger killer than heat.

That is a callous, dangerous response from the official responsible for helping guide America’s energy future.

Extreme heat is not a minor inconvenience. It kills seniors in overheated apartments and workers doing essential jobs in dangerous conditions — from farmworkers and delivery drivers to sanitation, road, and public works crews serving communities in brutal heat. It endangers children, people with disabilities, outdoor workers, and families who cannot afford air conditioning. It strains hospitals, buckles infrastructure, worsens wildfires, and turns ordinary summer days into emergencies.

And the science is clear: burning coal, oil, and gas is making dangerous heat waves more frequent and more severe.

Secretary Wright should be using his office to accelerate the clean energy transition, lower energy bills with efficiency and renewable power, and protect communities from climate-fueled disasters. Instead, he is reportedly using deadly heat as an opportunity to defend fossil fuels and dismiss the suffering of people living through the climate crisis.

That is unacceptable.

The Department of Energy has enormous power to help cut pollution, expand clean power, modernize the grid, invest in energy efficiency, and support communities on the front lines of climate disasters. It should not be led by someone who minimizes climate-fueled deaths while obstructing the solutions we urgently need.

Every day of delay means more dangerous heat, more pollution, more disasters, and more families put at risk.

Please sign the petition to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright: Stop downplaying deaths from extreme heat. Stop using misleading arguments to defend fossil fuels. Stop obstructing climate progress. Do your job: accelerate clean energy, cut climate pollution, protect public health, and treat the climate crisis with the urgency and humanity it demands.

The petition to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright reads: Extreme heat is killing people, and dismissing that danger is morally indefensible. We call on you to stop minimizing climate-fueled disasters, stop obstructing clean energy progress, and use the Department of Energy to rapidly cut pollution, expand renewable energy, and protect communities from the worsening climate crisis.
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Sources:

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/06/29/more-people-die-in-the-winter-wright-downplays-europes-deadly-heat-wave-00978439

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4d2vv935lo