When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed a bill this month to legally redefine natural gas as a source of “green energy,” supporters characterized it as the culmination of a grass-roots effort to recognize the Buckeye state’s largest energy source.
“It’s green. It’s clean. And it’s abundant right under our feet, right here in Ohio,” Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) wrote in an opinion piece in the Columbus Dispatch.
But Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group whose donors remain a mystery, assisted in the effort.
ALEC — a network of state lawmakers, businesses and conservative donors — circulated proposed legislation for Ohio lawmakers and has urged other states to follow suit, according to the documents, which were obtained via a public records request by the Energy and Policy Institute, a group that advocates for renewable energy.
“What the emails reveal is just how closely Ohio lawmakers coordinated with a natural gas industry group on the new law that misleadingly defines methane gas as green energy, as the first step of a plan to introduce similar legislation in multiple states,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute.
Although Ohio Republicans say they are trying to promote their state’s energy industry, critics have called the new law misleading and “Orwellian.” Unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, natural gas and other fossil fuels emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Leading scientists have said the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuels to avert the worst consequences of unchecked climate change.
The world is running out of options to hit climate goals, U.N. report shows
The law also adds to a fierce linguistic debate, one amped up by the recent furor over gas stoves and their health impacts. Climate activists have urged politicians and journalists to stop using the term “natural gas” and instead use the phrase “methane gas,” since its primary component is a powerful planet-warming pollutant.
The debate in Ohio comes as President Biden seeks to halve the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade compared with 2005 levels, a move resisted by the fossil fuel industry on the federal, state and local levels.
Last summer, the documents show, a leader of the Empowerment Alliance emailed Ohio state Sens. George Lang (R) and Mark Romanchuk (R) to share a report from Goldman Sachs on the “importance of natural gas” in North America and globally.
“We are on the right track with natural gas is green energy,” wrote Tom Rastin, who leads the Empowerment Alliance with his wife, Karen Buchwald Wright.
As of last fall, Rastin and his wife were listed in Federal Election Commission filings as executives at Ariel Corporation, a manufacturer of natural gas compressors. The couple also are major Republican donors who have dined with former president Donald Trump. Under their leadership, the alliance spent more than $1 million supporting Ohio Republicans in the 2022 election.
Sign up for The Climate 202, a daily newsletter about climate change policy and politics
Both lawmakers thanked Rastin for sending the report, with Romanchuk remarking that it highlighted “Ohio’s prominent role” in energy production.
A week later, Lang emailed Rastin from the annual ALEC conference in Atlanta, saying he’d be leaving the convention “with some model legislation to define … that natural gas is clean energy.”
ALEC is known for drafting and disseminating “model” state legislation that tends to advance conservative, pro-business priorities. Several high-profile corporate members, however, have cut ties with the group over what they see as its opposition to climate action, including Google, BP and Facebook.
As nonprofits, ALEC and the Empowerment Alliance are not required to disclose their donors, part of the influx of dark money in American politics. ALEC and Lang did not respond to requests for comment. Romanchuk declined to comment through a spokesman.
Anthony Conchel, a spokesman for The Empowerment Alliance (TEA), said in an email that “Natural Gas is Green is not an original TEA idea” and noted that natural gas has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, helping the nation reduce some emissions.
“It’s green. It’s clean. And it’s abundant right under our feet, right here in Ohio,” Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) wrote in an opinion piece in the Columbus Dispatch.
But Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group whose donors remain a mystery, assisted in the effort.
ALEC — a network of state lawmakers, businesses and conservative donors — circulated proposed legislation for Ohio lawmakers and has urged other states to follow suit, according to the documents, which were obtained via a public records request by the Energy and Policy Institute, a group that advocates for renewable energy.
“What the emails reveal is just how closely Ohio lawmakers coordinated with a natural gas industry group on the new law that misleadingly defines methane gas as green energy, as the first step of a plan to introduce similar legislation in multiple states,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute.
Although Ohio Republicans say they are trying to promote their state’s energy industry, critics have called the new law misleading and “Orwellian.” Unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, natural gas and other fossil fuels emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Leading scientists have said the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuels to avert the worst consequences of unchecked climate change.
The world is running out of options to hit climate goals, U.N. report shows
The law also adds to a fierce linguistic debate, one amped up by the recent furor over gas stoves and their health impacts. Climate activists have urged politicians and journalists to stop using the term “natural gas” and instead use the phrase “methane gas,” since its primary component is a powerful planet-warming pollutant.
The debate in Ohio comes as President Biden seeks to halve the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade compared with 2005 levels, a move resisted by the fossil fuel industry on the federal, state and local levels.
Last summer, the documents show, a leader of the Empowerment Alliance emailed Ohio state Sens. George Lang (R) and Mark Romanchuk (R) to share a report from Goldman Sachs on the “importance of natural gas” in North America and globally.
“We are on the right track with natural gas is green energy,” wrote Tom Rastin, who leads the Empowerment Alliance with his wife, Karen Buchwald Wright.
As of last fall, Rastin and his wife were listed in Federal Election Commission filings as executives at Ariel Corporation, a manufacturer of natural gas compressors. The couple also are major Republican donors who have dined with former president Donald Trump. Under their leadership, the alliance spent more than $1 million supporting Ohio Republicans in the 2022 election.
Sign up for The Climate 202, a daily newsletter about climate change policy and politics
Both lawmakers thanked Rastin for sending the report, with Romanchuk remarking that it highlighted “Ohio’s prominent role” in energy production.
A week later, Lang emailed Rastin from the annual ALEC conference in Atlanta, saying he’d be leaving the convention “with some model legislation to define … that natural gas is clean energy.”
ALEC is known for drafting and disseminating “model” state legislation that tends to advance conservative, pro-business priorities. Several high-profile corporate members, however, have cut ties with the group over what they see as its opposition to climate action, including Google, BP and Facebook.
As nonprofits, ALEC and the Empowerment Alliance are not required to disclose their donors, part of the influx of dark money in American politics. ALEC and Lang did not respond to requests for comment. Romanchuk declined to comment through a spokesman.
Anthony Conchel, a spokesman for The Empowerment Alliance (TEA), said in an email that “Natural Gas is Green is not an original TEA idea” and noted that natural gas has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, helping the nation reduce some emissions.
