On Fox, Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry says criticizing the oil and gas industry is “unpatriotic"
Perry: “That's a pretty unpatriotic thing to say, Mr. President, about the oil and gas producers which are basically our national defense"
Published
Citation
From the March 9, 2022, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
DANA PERINO (CO-ANCHOR): Let's show everybody this graph here of what it has been like over the past year. You are paying at the pump, you kind of know, you can go back to March of 2021 and look at the steady increase in gas prices all the way up to then you see the big spike and that is when Russia invaded Ukraine. Just practically, sir, if you look in Texas, the number of oil and gas wells there that are not perhaps producing right now. Just practically, how long would it take to start getting more domestic energy production into the system?
RICK PERRY (FORMER SECRETARY OF ENERGY): I think it would probably take a year to get more production in but I think, Dana, the more important thing is what I said earlier about if they sent the messages that we're going to stop the war on fossil fuels, then the market would correct, I think, in a very short period of time and we would see -- I want to bring up one other thing that's offensive to the people out here putting a lot of Americans to work in the oil and gas industries, certainly in my home state and across the country. And that is this not even lightly veiled attack on the oil and gas producers in this country when the day before yesterday, President Biden basically said that they were the cause of the problem, that they weren't out there doing their part. And nothing could be more offensive to me. That's a pretty unpatriotic thing to say, Mr. President, about the oil and gas producers which are basically our national defense. If you want to talk about a defense policy, have an energy industry that is vibrant, that is delivering oil and gas not just to the American military but to our allies as well. So, you know, take the foot off of the neck of the oil and gas industry. Quit using them as your scapegoat to dog whistle to the left and get America back on track by sending the message that we are going to open up our oil and gas industry. We're sitting on a hundred-plus years of energy in this country and using the climate as your existential threat, I happen to think, is pretty poor not only public policy but it's also pretty bad politics.
BILL HEMMER (CO-ANCHOR): Looking for oil anywhere but here at home. Talking to Venezuela, et al. Sir, thank you for your time. Rick Perry down there in Round Top, Texas.