Rick Perry: ‘Travesty’ That U.S. Energy Security Is ‘Tied to a Nation That Hates Us’

Columbia, SC (CNSNews.com) – Iran’s threat to close a strategic waterway highlights the need for America to boost its domestic energy exploration, said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential hopeful.

As president, Perry said he would expand exploration, but also said he favored getting rid of special subsides for the energy industry, preferring a free-market approach.

“Through a series of executive orders and actions, I want to open up energy exploration on federal lands and federal waters,” Perry said Tuesday at a presidential candidate forum sponsored by the South Carolina Business and Industrial Political Education Committee.

“It is a travesty, as Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz, that our energy and economic security is so tied to a nation that hates us, that will do us harm,” Perry said.