Energy Secretary Rick Perry Credit: Gage Skidmore
Speaking at an energy conference in Texas, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry called international efforts to slash fossil fuel use “immoral,” arguing that the shift threatens economic progress in developing nations and keeps people in poverty, according to reporting from the Houston Chronicle.
“Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” Perry told a room full of energy leaders and policymakers on Wednesday. “Because as a society we decided fossil fuels were bad. I think that is immoral.”
During his speech at the CERAWeek energy conference, Perry also said that the United States is in an age of “energy realism,” with the nation ramping up production of oil and gas, as well as renewable sources of energy. “America is now on the cusp of energy independence, but the president wants to see this go further,” said Perry. “He wants to share America’s energy bounty with the world. We’re going to be exporting multiple fuels. And we will export the same technologies that made us a clean, abundant energy producer.”
