(Radio Iowa) – U-S Energy Secretary Chris Wright toured the Ames National Lab at Iowa State University Thursday. One of the Lab’s core research priorities is developing ways to extract and re-use rare earth elements from electronic waste in everything from smart phones to missiles and jet fighters. Wright says the U-S relies too heavily on other countries to supply and process critical materials. “That’s become a national defense problem for us. It’s become a medical problem for us in times of crisis. Ames laboratory here is a leader in bringing these technologies and these capabilities back to our country,” he says. The Department of Energy has proposed cutting hundreds of millions of dollars for renewable energy programs, but Wright says he supports technologies that contribute to U-S energy.

“But wind, solar and batteries provide three percent of the United States energy, yet the majority of the budget at the Department of Energy. That’s just nonsensical,” Wright says. The think tank Ember Energy reports wind and solar last year provided a combined 17 percent of U-S energy, surpassing coal for the first time. Wright says priorities for the agency include nuclear and next generation geothermal. “We have to stabilize our electricity grid, we need to get away from the nonsense that somehow we’re not going to use fossil fuels in the near future.”

The Department of Energy removed the National Climate Assessments from its website earlier this year. Wright says climate change is a “true physical phenomenon” but not the “world’s greatest problem.” Wright was joined by congresswomen Joni Ernst, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and representatives of the Conservative Climate Caucus. He’s the fourth cabinet member to visit Iowa this week.