Gas Industry Group Hires Democrats to Push 'Clean' Fossil Fuels
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- Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, a coalition formed in 2020 and funded by fracking company EQT, gas utility Enbridge, and LNG provider Venture Global, paid former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's advisory firm $240,000 in 2024 to promote gas as part of a clean energy future.
- Eugene DePasquale, current chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, serves as Natural Allies' state chairman and frames natural gas as a 'bridge' to 100% renewables; the group's leadership council also includes former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan.
- The coalition targets women, people of color, and younger voters in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and New Jersey, deploying talking points about energy reliability and affordability that researcher Jennie Stephens of the National University of Ireland Maynooth identified as part of the fossil fuel industry's standard playbook for delaying climate action.
- Cornell professor Robert Howarth's research found that fracked shale gas used domestically has a greenhouse gas footprint roughly equivalent to coal, while exported LNG runs about 30% worse than coal.
- Nearly 60% of Pennsylvania's grid now depends on natural gas, exposing consumers to global price volatility the article ties to the U.S. war in Iran's disruption of fossil-fuel-dependent energy markets.
- The second Trump administration's rollbacks of Biden-era climate policies are pushing the gas industry to shift its focus to state and local battles in 2026, according to Energy and Policy Institute research manager Charlie Spatz.
Why it matters: The gas industry is paying Democratic voices to brand a fossil fuel as 'clean' at the precise moment federal climate protections are being rolled back, shifting the fight to state-level Democrats in Pennsylvania—the country's No. 2 gas producer—where nearly 60% of the grid already runs on gas and consumers remain exposed to global price swings.
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