An announcement this Tuesday by the Department of Energy has invited mockery due its choice of words when referring to natural gas, calling the substance “freedom gas” and “molecules of freedom.” The announcement referred to the Department of Energy’s approval of increased exports of natural gas from a Texas terminal, USA Today reports.
“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,” U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes said at a conference in Vancouver, Canada.
Later at the same conference, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg referred to the substance as “molecules of freedom.”
“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,” he said.
The DE’s choice of words invited a wave of mockery from social media.
The US Dept of Energy is officially rebranding natural gas as “Freedom Gas.”
And Donald J. Trump's chronic, sulfurous flatulence as “Patriotic Perfume.” #OrwellianAmericahttps://t.co/mjzEZFNDJC
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 30, 2019
The Department of Energy has been busy re-branding and looking to beat out "Freedom Fries" for the dumbest thing ever peddled by the US federal government. Ladies and gentleman, I give you "freedom gas" and "molecules of U.S. freedom." https://t.co/AE9JN4qY2W pic.twitter.com/wkfMyRibel
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) May 30, 2019
It's official: We're too stupid to live. #FreedomGas https://t.co/fptQE6xPHg
— Derek Johnson (@derekjGZ) May 30, 2019
Freedom gas? Freedom is generally good, but freedom from glaciers, freedom from clean air, freedom from healthy forests that aren't on fire, and freedom from the world we know and cherish is not what we seek.
— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) May 29, 2019
As USA Today points out, the choice of words isn’t an entirely new thing when it comes to the Department of Energy. Earlier this month while approving natural gas exports to Europe, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said that “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 liquefied natural gas.”
Featured image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
