Rick Perry suggests fossil fuels could prevent sexual assault

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has suggested that increasing the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault.

During an energy policy discussion with journalists, Mr Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa, saying a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes.

“A young girl told me to my face, ‘One of the reasons that electricity is so important to me is not only because I’m not going to have to read by the light of the fire and have those fumes literally killing people.’”

But also, Mr Perry went on, “from the standpoint of sexual assault. When the lights are on, when you have lights that shine, the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts,” appearing to suggest that having electricity could also stop sexual assault from happening.

Mr Perry was speaking to NBC’s Chuck Todd and Axios executive and founder Jim VandeHei.

“It's going to take fossil fuels to push power out into those villages in Africa,” he said.

Mr Perry and the rest of the Trump administration have been vocal supporters of expanding energy production from fossil fuels.