By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Did Congress’ France disparagement campaign of renaming French Fries to Freedom Fries cause a butterfly effect that manifested sixteen years later? Apparently possibly.

The U.S. Department of Energy posted on May 28th an announcement of approving additional exports of domestically produced Liquid Natural Gas at the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, BC. To spice up perhaps a rather bland news announcement, U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes decided to import some ill-considered political pontificating by renaming LNG as “Freedom Gas”.

Liberty and Freedom encompass many enlightened notions. But as a gas, that’s a new one for me.

The full press release can be read HERE.

Under Secretary Menezes stated in the release:

“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. Further, more exports of U.S. LNG to the world means more U.S. jobs and more domestic economic growth and cleaner air here at home and around the globe. There’s no doubt today’s announcement furthers this Administration’s commitment to promoting energy security and diversity worldwide.”

Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg extended freedom nomenclature to the sub-microscopic:

“Approval of additional LNG exports from Freeport LNG furthers this Administration’s commitment to promoting American energy, American jobs, and the American economy. Further, increased supplies of U.S. natural gas on the world market are critical to advancing clean energy and the energy security of our allies around the globe. With the U.S. in another year of record-setting natural gas production, 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.”

I must have missed something in my science studies in school in that I believed the idea of freedom at the molecular level was quantified as entropy and not a socio-political model. Perhaps next we might move to the sub-atomic level where U.S. History comingles with elementary particles. eg.: The Strange Quark and Robert McNamara; or the Charm Quark and President Clinton.

We should surely be thankful to the DOE for bringing liberty to nature via increasing air pollution.  It seems in bestowing Mother Nature with Freedom Gas, we liberated the hell out of the environment.

Shall we next expect Freedom Solids, Liquids, Plasmas and Bose-Einstein Condensates.

By Darren Smith

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