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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Cassady Craighill, ccraighill@greenpeace.org, 828-817-3328

Greenpeace to DOE Secretary Rick Perry: No Expansion of US Gas Exports

US communities will pay the price from more gas production in the US for foreign markets

WASHINGTON

n response to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry's signing deals with European officials for US natural gas exports, Greenpeace USA Climate and Energy Director Janet Redman said,

"U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the rest of the Trump administration are willing to threaten the health and safety of families in the United States, pollute our air and water, and stall renewable energy growth to pad the fortunes of a few fossil fuel industry executives. The bottom line is that communities from Colorado to Pennsylvania will pay the price if we expand gas exports to foreign markets.

"No matter how the fracking industry tries to spin it, the fact is that major gas development will only worsen the climate crisis. Recent peer-reviewed studies show that methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure are large enough to erase all or most of the climate benefit that gas may have over coal. There is no debate about it -- we have to stop expanding oil and gas projects in the United States if we want to limit global warming to a liveable 1.5 degrees.

"As governor of Texas, Rick Perry allowed oil, gas and chemical companies on 'Refinery Row' to emit cancer-causing pollutants, exposing nearby residents to breathing polluted air for years. We cannot allow him to put our communities and the future of our climate at risk to accommodate polluting energy corporations' expansion plans or the Trump administration's geopolitical fantasies."

Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

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