WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Energy officials referred to fossil fuels as "freedom gas" and "molecules of U.S. freedom" in a press release Tuesday announcing the expansion of a natural gas facility in Texas.
“Increasing export capacity from the Freeport LNG project is critical to spreading freedom gas throughout the world by giving America’s allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy," said Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes in the release.
The department announced the expansion of the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, which produces liquefied natural gas for export. The expansion is estimated to support up to 3,000 engineering and construction jobs, as well as hundreds of indirect jobs, according to the release.
"With the U.S. in another year of record-setting natural gas production, I am pleased that the Department of Energy is doing what it can to promote an efficient regulatory system that allows for molecules of U.S. freedom to be exported to the world,” said Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told reporters in Brussels that 75 years after liberating Europe from Nazi occupation, “the United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,” according to a report from EURACTIV. Perry then added, "And rather than in the form of young American soldiers, it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas.”
When asked by a EURACTIV reporter whether "freedom gas" would be a fair way of describing liquefied natural gas exports to Europe, Perry responded, "Yes, I think you may be correct in your observation,” according to the report.