Gas Industry Ramps Up Deceptive Effort to Influence Democrats

A group funded by fracking firms and pipeline companies is ramping up its efforts to cozy up to key Democratic constituencies in service of a pro-polluter agenda, including a bipartisan bill packed with fossil-fuel giveaways that could be considered in Congress in the coming weeks, according to a new report released today by the Revolving Door Project and Public Citizen.

The front group, Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, has conducted a series of in-person events with policymakers and key Democratic-leaning groups this year aimed at building support for its policy goals. Those agenda items include a set of dirty energy industry giveaways by Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that will eviscerate public interest review requirements for liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and encourage the construction of massive export terminals in largely Black, Brown, and low-income communities.

Natural Allies is led by three former Democratic members of Congress, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tim Ryan of Ohio, and Kendrick Meek of Florida, as well as former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. The group’s corporate funders include gas industry players Williams Companies, EQT, Kinder Morgan, TC Energy, Enbridge, and Venture Global.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Since it was launched in 2020, the group has spent $10.4 million over three years, with over $8.9 million directed to the advertising and public relations giant Omnicom, the parent company of Mercury Public Affairs—the firm that initially launched Natural Allies.
• Since its inception, Natural Allies has seen substantial growth in revenue, skyrocketing from $1.75 million in 2020 to $9.1 million in 2022, totaling $15.6 million over its first three years. The group has spent more than $1 million on Facebook ads alone, generating tens of millions of impressions.
• While using former Democratic officials to peddle their interests in Democratic circles, Natural Allies’ corporate funders overwhelmingly back Republicans. Political action committees and super PACs tied to Natural Allies’ corporate funders have spent $3.5 million on federal political races since 2020, with 79 percent going to Republicans, including EQT Corp’s $250,000 contribution to a Super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates.
• While the group deceptively pushes natural gas as a “partner” to renewables, its real goal is to promote continued use of methane, saying in an internal strategy document that “success for the natural gas industry will be rooted in whether we can message to the left and the Democratic base of black and Latino and age 18 to 34 voters as effectively as we have messaged to the right.”

Throughout 2024, the group has stepped up its visibility in Democratic Party circles, inaccurately promoting natural gas as a “clean” energy source in public meetings. The group has also been criticizing Biden administration policies that aim to consider the impacts of gas exports on communities, consumers, and the climate.

“The methane gas industry is laundering its dirty agenda by employing former Democratic politicians, using their connections from their time in public service to advocate for fossil fuel industry priorities,” said Alan Zibel, a research director at Public Citizen and an author of the report. “From voicing support for harmful gas drilling to promoting gas exports as a false climate solution, these unnatural alliances are the latest iteration of greenwashing tactics used by the fossil fuel industry.”

“The natural gas industry is leveraging the pernicious power of the ‘revolving door’ phenomenon to turbocharge their efforts to confuse Democratic politicians and voters alike about the impact of methane gas on the climate, their health, and their pocketbooks,” said Hannah Story Brown, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project. “When former politicians lobby their ex-colleagues or hobnob with insiders at high-profile events, they have an outsized reach, with their past public service lending credibility to ideas they’re being paid to peddle. Natural Allies’ internal strategy documents reveal how they’ve capitalized on this phenomenon, hiring former politicians Mary Landrieu, Tim Ryan, Michael Nutter, and Kendrick Meek to their Leadership Council to provide ‘third-party validation’ of industry talking points.”

“The ongoing boom in fossil gas production and exports is condemning frontline communities to deadly pollution, saddling consumers with higher energy prices, and locking in catastrophic warming. Rather than telling the truth about the destructive nature of fracked gas, some former Democratic officials on the payroll of Big Oil are downplaying the harms of methane emissions while sowing doubt about the reliability and affordability of genuinely clean power,” said Revolving Door Project senior researcher Kenny Stancil. “Natural Allies’ attempt to launder the reputation of gas—a fossil fuel that worsens environmental injustice—is shameful.”