Rick Perry: Environmental protections kill jobs

AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Friday that as president he would use executive orders to roll back environmental regulations in order to access untapped supplies of natural gas, oil and coal.

"The quickest way to give our economy a shot in the arm is to deploy American ingenuity to tap American energy," Perry said in a speech at a steel plant near Pittsburgh. "But we can only do that if environmental bureaucrats are told to stand down." He claimed that his plan would create 1.2 million jobs, and that it would not require action by Congress. 

Perry said that by cutting regulations - including Environmental Protection Agency regulation of greenhouse gasses and limitations on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the mid-Atlantic and Alaska (including the ANWR Coastal Plain and the National Petroleum Reserve) - America can "break the grip of dependence we have today on foreign oil from hostile nations like Venezuela and unstable nations in the Middle East." He also called for opening federal and private land in Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado and Utah for exploration.

Among Perry's more controversial proposals is to tap the Marcellus Shale, the massive gas reserve in Appalachia that many environmentalists warn could permanently pollute groundwater if exploited for energy.  Perry also called in his remarks for construction of a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that the Obama administration is expected to approve over the aggressive objections of environmentalists. A final decision by the State Department on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry an estimated 700,000 barrels of oil a day, is expected by the end of the year. 

Perry complained of "hostility" to the use of coal by the Obama administration and "the EPA's war on American fossil fuel production" and cast hydraulic fracturing of natural gas - "fracking" - as safe. He called the notion that "we must pick between energy and the environment" a "false choice."

"End the over-regulation. End the excess litigation. End the bureaucratic intimidation. Let's get back to what works to get America working again," said the Texas governor.

The speech was Perry's first major address on policy, and he promised to roll out his full economic platform within days. It came as part of a media blitz by the Texas governor, who has fallen precipitously in polls in the wake of a series of shaky debate performances and is now seeking to get his campaign back on track. Perry appeared on four network morning shows and called into radio programs in key early voting states Friday, and he has been pushing his energy proposals throughout the week.

After the speech, Obama for America Press Secretary Ben LaBolt said Perry's energy policy is "straight out of the past - doubling down on finite resources with no plan to promote innovation or to transition the nation to a clean energy economy."

20 Photos

Rick Perry on the campaign trail

[webbsight]

You can be Republican and care about the environment. You can also make a buck and address public safety too. This idea that you can't is unacceptable. Are we going to move forward or regress as a nation? This is the question.

[webbsight]

It is a false choice to say we have to concede public safety for prosperity. To say cancer causing agents are okay as long as they take a long time to happen is not okay. Polluting ground water, pesticides on our fruit, and relaxing strict safety standards, why? When Republicans say this why can't they also say we are going to make sure the industries police themselves in a way that assures integrity in the way they conduct business. Instead they say we need nothing. How can they say the government is inherently corrupt and wasteful and business somehow altruistic. How can that be when human beings are both public and private workers. Also, to preach constantly about unsustainable spending, where is the concern of unsustainable energy consumption or the concern of pollution? This is not something to ignore. It must be taken seriously and it is just irresponsible to choose to cater toward your contributors when it comes to public safety. These people are not patriotic and their not upright when it comes to their values and virtues.

[richie3465]

This guy is an F,I.I am a republican and i am hear to tell you this guy will destroy the enviroment . with Rick Perry in office we would have to imort are drinking water from china the air we breath from mexico.does this guy work for the big oil companys?

[jimbom121]

Clean air & water is overrated anyway.

[tvwatcher5345]

i think texas should go back to using "leaded" gasoline, DDT, and asbestos, i'm sure they don't regulate water use there either

[fwd23515]

What do y'all think--is Mr. Perry smarter than a fifth grader?

[Dr_Pangloss]

No!

[mzhi808]

No he is NOT, he is just a dumb liar.Live in Texas and you will know what I'm talking about.

[karma5230]

Lack of environmental regulations kills people.

[nearl451]

Since the energy plan is essentially to give gas/oil everything it wants including tax subsidies and abandon any green technology whatsoever, can he please just declare total surrender to China for any new technology.

Thanks.

[sandique]

Yeah folks. Loosen what few decent environmental laws we have existing. What a load of b.s. Just finish the people off and finish destroying planet earth. Yeah, that's what we want. Once again no solutions only mindless drivel oh I'm sure it would aid and abet those raking every last dollar from raping this paradise that once was.
Sickening.

[cks53]

I just read that 20% of Americans suffer from some form of mental illness, so in that context, I'm hardly surprised by Perry's position. Why the other 80% even listen to him, though, is beyond me. But he does look pretty spiffy in a suit.