White House touts 'freedom gas'

The Trump administration has deemed liquefied natural gas, or "freedom gas," a critical US export, saying it contains "molecules of US freedom."

Earlier this week, the US Department of Energy announced the approval of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) installation in Texas. Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes said in a press release that "increasing export capacity ... is critical to spreading freedom gas throughout the world by giving America's allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy."

Read more: Poland signs 20-year liquefied natural gas deal with US

Steven Winberg, the assistant secretary for fossil energy who signed the export order, said the announcement was part of the White House's "America First" agenda.

"I am pleased that the Department of Energy is doing what it can to promote an efficient regulatory system that allows for molecules of US freedom to be exported to the world," Winberg said.

Liberating natural gas

The two Department of Energy employees appear to be building on a metaphor coined by their boss, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, earlier this month.

During his visit to Brussels a few weeks ago, Perry equated LNG to US efforts to aid European liberation during World War II.

Read more: Germany warms to plan for liquefied natural gas terminal

According to a report by the Euractiv media network, Perry said: "The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent. And rather than in the form of young American soldiers, it's in the form of natural gas."

Perry agreed with a reporter who asked him if "freedom gas" was an appropriate term.

The phrasing brings to mind other patriotic products like "freedom fries" and "freedom toast," renamed in some American eateries in reaction to French opposition to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

dv/cmk (AFP)

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