In an op-ed Tuesday prior to the Washington Post/Bloomberg Debate in Hanover, N.H., Rick Perry previewed two topics which he will discuss in a policy speech on Friday – energy production and jobs.

“Two of the biggest challenges facing the United States are getting people back to work and becoming less dependent on foreign oil from hostile countries,” Perry wrote in an op-ed in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

“America needs jobs. America needs energy. The first phase of my plan will energize important sectors of the America economy, creating 1.2 million U.S. jobs – enough jobs for nearly 9 percent of Americans out of work today. With the right people in the White House and administration, our nation can reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy hostile to our interests and implement a more affordable, reliable and pro-job ‘Made in America’ energy policy.”

Perry outlined several aspects of the plan – ensuring access to all of the country’s natural resources, authorizing the use of all federal lands and waters to encourage energy development, expanding permitting in the Gulf of Mexico and exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf off the Atlantic Coast, and limiting the agenda of the EPA. Perry will deliver the speech in Pittsburgh on Friday, focusing on the pillars of energy production and job creation, though it will not lay out a specific jobs plan.