In an interview with Fox Business Network's Maria Baritormo in Davos, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the U.S. is now the world's top oil and gas producing nation. "The U.S. is not just exporting energy, we're exporting freedom."
“We’re exporting to our allies in Europe the opportunity to truly have a choice of where do you buy your energy from. That’s freedom. And that kind of freedom is priceless.”
"There's no strings attached when you buy American LNG," Perry added.
This is an important point, and we couldn't agree more.
In a 2013 USA today column, IPI's resident scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews writes, "The U.S. does not use energy as a bargaining tool to get what it wants from other countries... But many of the major oil- and gas-producing countries do. While the U.S. ranks third and rising among the top 10 energy-producing countries, at least three of them -- Russia, Iran and China, plus Venezuela (13th) -- are totalitarian regimes."
"These countries are not our friends, and they all use energy policy as a tool to buy regime support and funnel cash to nefarious efforts, including terrorism, political suppression and international unrest," Matthews said.
In just its first year, the Trump administration has made important advances in boosting U.S. energy production by allowing drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as new offshore oil and gas drilling in almost all U.S. coastal waters, all which means greater energy security for the rest of the world.
"The ability for the U.S. to extract and export energy is a national security issue," writes Matthews in USA Today. "Energy self-sufficiency, which could be attainable in a decade or so, would mean that U.S. foreign policy wasn't held hostage to energy policy."
"And ensuring that energy-dependent countries have other options would reduce the potential for energy diplomacy, help dry up the coffers of countries that would harm the U.S. and its allies, and dramatically increase U.S. manufacturing and exports (refining is part of the manufacturing sector)."
Click here to watch the full interview between Secretary Perry and Bartiromo. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5718318851001/?#sp=show-clips