Rick Perry's energy remarks at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition (Video and transcript)

Rick Perry responded to two questions about energy at the October 22, 2011 Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Presidential Forum. The event was sponsored by the Iowa Energy Forum, a part of the American Petroleum Institute sponsored America’s Energy Forum.

Question #1: What is your comprehensive plan to shape your future administration’s energy policy, and please include how this vision differs from the approach of the current administration.

Rick Perry: Well, it’s really a pretty simple concept. Make what Americans buy. Buy what Americans make. And sell it to the world.

That is what we need to be focused on in this country. Expanding our domestic exploration. Pulling back those regulations that are killing jobs and stopping our ability to use the 300 years of energy that we have in this country.

Reduce and refocus, if you will, that EPA that has been talked about broadly here tonight. Level the playing field for all of the energy industry.

I talked about two weeks ago creating 1.2 million new jobs by doing just that without having to go through Congress. The President can use an executive action and executive orders to make those changes, so my plan will make America more energy secure.

The idea, as Herman talked about, that we would send billions, hundreds of millions of dollars, offshore every year to countries that are hostile to our future is nonsensical to me.

Let’s get America working and open up our oil and gas reserves. Open up all of our, whether it is wind or solar or nuclear or whatever it might be. Get American working and start in the energy industry.

Question #2: If you could reverse one energy related policy decision from the last three years, what would it be and what would you have done differently?

Rick Perry: Yeah, I agree with Congressman – or Congresswoman – Bachmann that the most devastating event that occurred by this administration relative to energy policy was the knee jerk reaction after the Deep Water Horizon event and shutting down the Gulf of Mexico from drilling.

What it has done – if we just went back to pre-Obama levels of job creation 230,000 jobs, one third of those which would be outside of the Gulf region, could be put to work. 80 percent down on the number of approvals for permits. It takes 400 percent longer today to get a permit in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bobby Jindal and I were talking just within the last month 12,000 jobs have been lost because of that. This President has killed more jobs with his regulatory schemes that have gone forward and that knee jerk reaction of stopping drilling. And that is some of the fastest things that we can turn around with a new president.