Trump Administration Re-Names Natural Gas ‘Freedom Gas’ & ‘Molecules Of U.S. Freedom’

In a May email detailing the expansion of a natural gas facility in Texas, Trump administration officials referred to fossil fuels as “molecules of U.S. freedom” and “freedom gas.”

The email described the enlargement the Freeport LNG Terminal, a facility on Quintana Island, Texas, that creates liquified natural gas for export outside the U.S. The growth of the plant will create thousands of new jobs for those in the area.

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In the government email detailing this expansion, the Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes said, “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.”

Another top administration energy official, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, said, “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.”

The rebranding of natural gas is an attempt by the Trump administration to fortify the position of fossil fuels in the energy sector. Democrats and environmentalists have long opposed the use of materials such as coal and oil to create power, as they have lots of environmentally-damaging side effects. The Trump administration has been very friendly towards the coal and gas industries during its tenure, basing its actions on a mixture of climate denial and reliance on the money of big companies. By calling natural gas “freedom gas,” the White House is hoping to associate the energy source with American values, thereby convincing the average citizen that natural gas is a part of the American way and that efforts to curb its growth are un-American. Nearly all of the Democratic 2020 candidates have proposed sweeping plans to fight climate change which include taxing fossil fuel companies in order to slow their growth and promote cleaner energy.

Article by Daniel Knopf