On Sunday, Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell of New Mexico’s Second District joined Congressmen Michael Burgess and Lance Gooden of Texas for a segment during CPAC 2021 in Dallas about energy moderated by Tammie Bruce of Fox News.
“I really think what’s very ironic about this is the topic here is energy security. And it’s a sad day that we’re having to fight against our own administration to secure our energy independence because they’re more than willing to give our independence away to China and Russia and other adversaries,” Herrell said. “We deserve to be energy independent, just like we were under the Trump administration.”
“And even more so to think that they are locking us away from our public lands. So, in New Mexico, fifty percent of our oil production comes from public lands, sixty percent of our natural gas. And now, we are so running down the path of stupidity that we are going to cut off our producers from being able to drill on public lands.”
“We’ve got to protect our America from our government,” Herrell said. “And we’ve got to be able to have the ability to understand that if we go in our homes and our offices when we flip on the switch, it’s going to turn on the lights. Or we can go to the gas pumps and afford the fuel there…. We’ve got to stand up to our government so that we can protect our energy and our natural resources.”
What we have to remember: It is not just about starting the car. I mean, let’s just be honest. Right now, if we got rid of everything in this room that was touched by a petroleum product, it would look very, very different,” Herrell continued. “The truth is, we don’t talk about the things that are in our daily lives that we take advantage of…. Plastics, medical supplies, eyeglasses, asphalt, makeup, lipstick, clothing, [sporting goods], there are so many things.”
“I would just implore that you start talking about the day-to-day items that [we] really take advantage of, that are touched by the petroleum products. In fact, if you’ve gotten the vaccine or if you’re thinking about getting the vaccine, thank the oil and gas industry because almost every one of those syringes was touched by the petroleum products out of the ground — the fossil fuels.”
Herrell ended her remarks by saying, “We are living in the greatest country on the Earth, and thank you to our veterans, to our Military who fought for our freedoms. ANd we will stand and fight for our energy independence and all our other freedoms because we as Americans deserve them and we owe all the gratitude to our veterans and our service members, so thank you.”
Herrell’s speech came before 45th President Donald Trump addressed the conference, where he spoke about his America First agenda and taking back America for the people.
Watch an interview with Rep. Herrell at C-PAC with Right Side Broadcasting: