US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who made his fortune by drilling holes in the Earth to access methane gas and then leaving taxpayers to clean up the mess his company made, visited the Ames National Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, to deliver a message. He said the US should mine and refine its own critical raw materials instead of letting other counties [ahem, CHINA, ahem] do it. He also said it is time to do away with all federal subsidies for wind power, according to the Des Moines Register.

While he was there to cheer on the staff at the Ames National Laboratory, Wright also had some words of wisdom he shared with the press. He said federal incentives for wind energy “have been around for 33 years, and I think you’ve seen a mature industry develop.” Wind and solar energy need to “compete in the marketplace” like every other source of energy, he claimed.