Ryan joins at a critical moment as coal use is ramping up in Europe and across the world, moving us backwards on fighting climate change. 

(Washington, DC) – Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future announced today that former Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan will join the Leadership Council of the organization. He will serve alongside former Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), as former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp transitions to a new role as director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.  

“I am excited to join Natural Allies and promote the role natural gas plays in meeting global climate goals faster, while advancing reliability and affordability here at home,” said Congressman Ryan. “These are kitchen table issues voters understand – people’s livelihoods and jobs often depend on rational energy policy. As Democrats, we can be pro-climate, pro-affordability, and pro-natural gas.” 

“We are so honored to welcome Congressman Tim Ryan to our leadership team,” said former. Sen. Landrieu. “Tim Ryan served with distinction in the U.S. Congress for two decades, fighting for working-class Americans and economic prosperity for all. He understands how vital natural gas and its infrastructure are to meeting our long-term energy and climate goals. We are at a critical reflection point as we witness in real-time the value that natural gas brings to reliability, affordability, and keeping carbon emissions low around the world.” 

Congressman Ryan served 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2023. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio. During his time in Congress, Ryan was a stalwart leader in the fight to defend jobs, strengthen and modernize America’s manufacturing base — including championing investments in battery development and clean energy technologies — and reform U.S. trade policies. He served on the House Appropriations Committee, chairing the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, and sat on the Defense and Energy & Water Development subcommittees, which both control all federal spending on nuclear weapons.   

“The events of the last year show we can no longer sit on the sidelines while countries like Russia seek to weaponize energy, coerce and threaten our allies, and jeopardize global security. American natural gas is the answer to this threat. Today it is helping to stabilize our allies and maintain freedom across the globe. Expanding our U.S. natural gas infrastructure meets our energy goals now and allows us to adapt to zero carbon fuels of the future like hydrogen that drive carbon emissions down,” added Congressman Ryan. “Further, the working-class people who built the energy systems we rely on in this country today are going to be the same people who build the next generation of energy – natural gas will be a huge part of that.” 

The importance of natural gas is front and center on the world stage as coal use is ramping up in Europe and across the globe. China plans to boost coal production through 2025, threatening climate goals worldwide. China burns more coal than the rest of the world combined, producing nearly a third of the world’s annual carbon emissions. 

The Biden Administration is taking steps to recognize the importance of natural gas in ensuring global energy security including calling for increased LNG production to stabilize the United Kingdom,  $2.3 billion funding for new carbon capture technologies and $7 billion program to create regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) that can utilize America’s existing 2.5-million-mile natural gas pipeline. 

Natural Allies is committed to raising awareness on the vital role natural gas and its infrastructure must play in the energy mix: 

• Partnering natural gas with renewable energies like wind and solar can help the world reach its climate goals faster, without compromising reliability and affordability. 
• Natural gas serves as a foundational, low-carbon energy source for making reliable electricity, particularly when solar and wind are unavailable to meet our fluctuating 24/7 real-time energy needs. 
• Not only do homes heated by natural gas save $1,041 per year vs. all electric-homes, the Biden Administration in March 2022 found natural gas is 2-3x cheaper than equivalent heating oil and electricity costs.  
• U.S. power-sector carbon emissions dropped 32% since 2005 – two-thirds of which came from coal-to-natural gas switching, and 30% from renewables.  Natural gas can serve as a solution to drive down global coal emissions even further. 
• Electric customers are 800x more likely to see an outage than the average natural gas customer each year, thanks to safe underground networks that are far less vulnerable to storms.  
• The U.S. is the largest natural gas producer in the world, with a secure 100-year energy supply. With Russia, Iran, China, and Qatar as other major producers, it avoids Americans from being beholden to hostile countries for energy.  
• America’s existing 2.5-million-mile natural gas pipeline system can easily be adapted for future fuels like hydrogen, without the expense and time to locate, permit and build new transmission infrastructure. 

About Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future 

Natural Allies is a 501c4 organization that seeks to better inform the public and policy makers about why natural gas is best partnered with renewable power sources to accelerate the clean energy transition. Among the industry leaders supporting Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future are: The Williams Companies, Kinder Morgan, TC Energy, EQT, National Fuel Gas, Enbridge Inc., the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Union of Operating Engineers, Pipe Line Contractors Association, American Pipeline Contractors Association, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and the INGAA Foundation. To learn more please visit: naturalalliesforcleanenergy.org.   

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