Energy Sector Finds Amazing Method To Make Methane "Clean" - Bribing Legislatures To Pass Laws That Say So
A wave of bills in state legislatures across the country aim to classify climate-heating methane gas as a source of “green” or “clean” energy to prevent communities from transitioning away from fossil fuels — and secretive dark money groups connected to the gas industry are behind the effort. The legislation could threaten the enforcement of climate policies across the country, allowing gas to stand in for clean energy in states’ renewable energy portfolios or otherwise thwarting local efforts to phase out reliance on fossil fuels. As methane emissions increasingly drive climate change, the bills would disguise the devastating environmental impacts of the powerful greenhouse gas — while the Trump administration caters to fossil fuel-backed donors on federal gas policy.
State officials say the bills are necessary to protect local economic development tied to a major local source of energy. But the legislators didn’t come up with the idea on their own: The rebrand originated from model legislation introduced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative lobbying network funded by large corporations. And, in at least one case, the effort is being pushed by the gas industry itself to further entrench states’ dependence on gas.
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A version of the methane gas rebranding bill first passed in Ohio in 2023 after it was floated by The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money gas advocacy group helmed by Trump megadonor and former gas industry executive couple Tom Rastin and Karen Buchwald Wright. According to documents obtained by the watchdog Energy and Policy Institute and first reported by the Washington Post, The Empowerment Alliance worked with Ohio state legislators on the idea, while ALEC provided a model bill and talking points for officials. ALEC denied its involvement in Ohio’s law after the Washington Post published its story. But last summer, ALEC posted a markedly similar model bill on its website.
The model bill, titled “The Affordable, Reliable, and Clean Energy Security Act,” states that “‘Green energy’ will be redefined as meaning any energy generated by using an energy resource in which the emissions are equivalent to the standard set by pipeline-quality natural gas, (e.g. those emitted by residential gas stoves).’” Since that model bill was published, a new swath of states — including Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana — have introduced similar legislation declaring gas a “clean” or “green” source of energy. Indiana and Tennessee’s bills passed into law in April. Mississippi’s bill died in committee in February. But Louisiana’s bill — whose first iteration included exact language from the ALEC model legislation — passed in the state’s House of Representatives on June 2 and is now being considered by its Senate.
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https://www.exxonknews.org/p/state-bills-are-redefining-gas-as