By The Associated Press

It's hard to generate interest in a news release about liquefied natural gas exports, but a high-ranking Trump administration official succeeded by calling the stuff "molecules of U.S. freedom."

Assistant Energy Secretary Steven Winberg made the comment this week to describe an expansion of export capacity at a Texas terminal.

Winberg says exporting liquid gas is good for U.S. jobs and the economy and for the energy security of America's allies. Another Energy Department official calls it "freedom gas."

Some people are going on Twitter to make fun of the colorful language, but environmentalists opposed to wider use of natural gas say it's no laughing matter.

Rachel Cleetus, a climate expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says it's an absurd attempt to rebrand natural gas, which is still a fossil fuel.

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