Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry wants to dramatically increase oil and gas exploration and in the process create more than a million jobs, the candidate told Larry Kudlow Thursday.
“We’re sitting on a treasure trove of energy in this country,” Perry said. “There’s 300 years worth of reserves underneath the land of America and that’s how we are going to get America working again.”
Perry pledged to “open up all the federal lands and the waters” in his first 100 days in office, which will in turn get 1.2 million people back to work, he said.
The Texas Governor is set to unveil his far-reaching plan Friday in the hopes of rekindling his presidential bid. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey has the Texas Governor—the former frontrunner—in third place behind Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.
In addition to job creation, Perry said the plan will also “secure us—from an energy standpoint—from countries that don’t have our best interest in minds.”
To make it work, Perry vowed to pull back on regulations and rebuild the Environmental Protection Agency. And he said he doesn’t need Congressional approval.
“I can move unilaterally to open up those lands, to pull those regulations back that are killing jobs and to rebuild that EPA where it truly is an agency that is about protecting the environment,” he said. “We can get this country energy independent.”
Perry also took the opportunity to address the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, declaring that the EU will not be on the receiving end of any U.S. bailouts if he’s in office.
“If you’re too big to fail you’re too big. And that goes for Europe,” Perry said. “America is not here to bail out people who make bad economic decisions. It doesn’t matter whether you are on Wall Street, whether you’re a General Motors or … Greece. If you made bad decisions, you are going to have to live with them.”
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