--- title: Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Prevent Sexual Assault description: Energy Secretary Rick Perry said at an Axios and NBC News energy event that fossil fuels may help prevent sexual assault. canonical: https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-02T18:24:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:00.100Z article:section: Science og:title: Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Stop Sexual Assault og:description: The energy secretary was speaking at an event Thursday og:url: https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60356b53b245a8af/6988e464ab6d77581a6b0780/gettyimages-861948908.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rick Perry Energy Policy Summit DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Stop Sexual Assault twitter:description: The energy secretary was speaking at an event Thursday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60356b53b245a8af/6988e464ab6d77581a6b0780/gettyimages-861948908.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Stop Sexual Assault ## Video: Rick Perry Infamously Forgot About the Department of Energy [Watch (HLS stream): Rick Perry Infamously Forgot About the Department of Energy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jz2yRMBE.m3u8) (0:50)  _Published 2016-12-13. “It’s three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone—Commerce, Education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said during a Republican presidential debate in November 2011._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 2, 2017 6:24 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, pictured at the National Press Club, Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington, DC, said Thursday that fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault. U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, pictured at the National Press Club, Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington, DC, said Thursday that fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault.Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 2, 2017 6:24 PM UTC Fossil fuels can help stop sexual assault, [Energy Secretary Rick Perry](http://time.com/4639221/rick-perry-confirmation-hearing-trump-energy-secretary/) said Thursday. The former Texas governor and presidential candidate, who was speaking at Axios and NBC News’ [Energy in 2017 event](https://splashthat.com/sites/view/energyin2017.splashthat.com?utm%5Fsource=email), said using fossil fuels to bring electricity to African villages could have a positive impact on health and safety. “From the standpoint of sexual assault, when the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts,” Perry said at the event, [NBC reports](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/rick-perry-says-fossil-fuels-can-prevent-sexual-assault-n816896). “So from the standpoint of how you really affect people’s lives, fossil fuels is going to play a role in that. I happen to think it’s going to play a positive role.” The energy secretary also said “the science is out” on whether humans are the primary driver of climate change, adding to June comments, as [reported by CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/19/energy-sec-rick-perry-says-co2-is-not-the-main-driver-of-climate-change.html), that “most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.” Perry’s first public run-in with the department he now leads came in 2011, while on the presidential campaign trail. During a televised debate, he [notoriously forgot the Department of Energy](http://time.com/4598910/rick-perry-department-energy-oops-gaffe/) while rattling off agencies he would eliminate as president. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/"},"headline":"Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Stop Sexual Assault","datePublished":"2017-11-02T18:24:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:00.100Z","description":"He was speaking at an energy event","url":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/","keywords":["rick perry","Sexual Assault","politics","energy","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60356b53b245a8af/6988e464ab6d77581a6b0780/gettyimages-861948908.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60356b53b245a8af/6988e464ab6d77581a6b0780/gettyimages-861948908.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rick Perry Energy Policy Summit DC","caption":"Rick Perry Energy Policy Summit DC","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/rick-perry/","name":"rick perry"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/","name":"Rick Perry: Fossil Fuels Can Help Stop Sexual Assault"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Rick Perry Infamously Forgot About the Department of Energy","description":"“It’s three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone—Commerce, Education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said during a Republican presidential debate in November 2011.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jz2yRMBE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-13T15:45:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jz2yRMBE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/","duration":"PT50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5007787/rick-perry-fossil-fuels-sexual-assault/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```