Government scientists warn people to stay indoors this weekend as temperatures in many areas could reach triple digits

Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, made at least $66 million from oil and gas.

Not long after President Donald Trump's energy secretary said that global warming was "no big deal," the federal government is warning people to shelter indoors during the July 4 weekend to avoid the latest dangerous, record heat wave.

Global warming is "sort of a no-big-deal kind of thing," Energy Secretary (and former oil and gas tycoon) Chris Wright said during a talk in May at the libertarian Cato Institute.

(If you don't believe me, see 48:29 on the video.)

Belief in global warming was a "cult" spread by "alarmists" who were "scaring kids," Wright added.

The Energy Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sadly, a "prolonged, dangerous heat wave will intensify across most of the central to eastern U.S. this week," the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Institute, a federal scientific and regulatory agency, now warns. The heat wave will peak in the middle of the country through Thursday, it says, before rolling to the East Coast over the weekend. Temperatures will rocket above 100 degrees, and will hit 115 degrees in some places, it said.

Relief may not come until next week, if then.

"Periods of prolonged, persistent heat are among the deadliest weather hazards in the U.S. because the impacts build over time," NOAA said. Its advice? Stay indoors, stay hydrated and stay in the air conditioning - if you can. "Limit outdoor activity," it said. Happy July Fourth!

Maybe there is no connection between global industrialization, the vast emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and this summer's dangerous record temperatures.

And maybe it is pure coincidence that, according to the World Meteorological Association, the 11 hottest years on record are the past 11 years.

We had better hope so, or this trend is going to get worse. But who are you going to believe about global warming - an oil and gas executive, or your own eyes?

Heat waves, including this one, are a special risk to those over 65, warns the National Institutes of Health.

Our risk of dying from the heat rises steadily above age 45, a NIH study shows. Even those in their younger senior years, ages 65 to 74, are between two and four times as likely to die from the heat as those in their 20s or 30s. And the risks rise dramatically after about age 75. Older men are about twice as likely to die from the heat as older women, the NIH also found. (This might be physical, or it might be behavioral.)

A study of deaths from a past heat wave found that those most at risk included those confined to bed, those unable to care for themselves, those who stay at home, those who live alone and those who live on the top floor of a building. All of those conditions are more likely to be true of the elderly.

Bottom line: Those who are vulnerable need to take special care, and those who know anyone vulnerable, including family or neighbors, should check on them.

Check here for an article by MarketWatch's Jaimy Lee on health tips for staying safe in the heat wave.

Is Wright correct about global warming? You make the call. I'm old enough to remember when tobacco executives, and many others, told us lung cancer and the risks of smoking were also a sort of "no big deal" kind of thing. Those included former broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, a proud smoker who, sadly, died of lung cancer five years ago, at age 69.

The great muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair once said it was pretty much impossible to convince somebody of something if their money depended on them not believing or understanding it.

In this light, while Wright says global warming is no big deal, it is noteworthy that he made his fortune from his fracking company Liberty Energy $(LBRT)$. Company filings show he was paid $28 million just in his last three years as CEO. When he left the company early last year to champion the oil, gas and coal industries in the Trump administration, he still had a stake valued at $66 million, according to FactSet data.

When Wright joined the government early last year, he sold that stake and moved his money into a diversified portfolio of stock and bond funds. Under a special federal-tax loophole for wealthy people who take senior appointments in the federal government, he would have been able to do so without paying capital-gains tax.

But whether Wright is right about global warming or Wright is wrong... watch out this weekend, especially if you are over 65.

-Brett Arends

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June 30, 2026 17:42 ET (21:42 GMT)

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