LAUREL - U.S. Sen. Steve Daines visited CHS Laurel Refinery Friday for a tour and a roundtable talk on American and Montana energy.
He said says Russia attacking Ukraine shows the importance of countries seeking energy independence.
CHS workers took the Senator through a section for asphalt processing.
After the tour, he met with those in the energy industry.
The Senator recently vistied eastern Europe.
Ukraine relies on imports for energy and the Senator said Russia has shut off gas to Bulgaria and Finland.
He said the U.S. should avoid this type of situation.
"We can't make the mistakes that Europe made," Daines said. "Europe started shutting down coal plants, shutting down nuclear plants in creating dependencies on Russian oil and gas. And now Vladimir Putin has weaponized energy. As we've sadly seen around the world now, energy security is national security. A nation that can feed itself and fuel itself is secure. You can't be dependent on countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran. It's very dangerous."
