Bipartisan congressional leaders, American Clean Power’s Jason Grumet, National Association of Manufacturers’ Jay Timmons, labor and industry leaders, join former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and former U.S. Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-FL) to reflect on COP28 and next steps toward a clean energy economy 

Washington, D.C. (January 23, 2024) – Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future and Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE) welcomed bipartisan congressional leaders, American Clean Power’s Jason Grumet, National Association of Manufacturers’ Jay Timmons, United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters’ Russ Breckenridge, along with distinguished attendees, to an event on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, on Capitol Hill. Members of the Leadership Council of Natural Allies, including former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and former U.S. Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-FL) also participated, along with EQT President and CEO Toby Rice and Williams CEO Alan S. Armstrong.   

The industry’s leading experts and congressional leaders agreed on the urgent need to expand natural gas infrastructure, in partnership with renewables, and to explore bipartisan solutions to accelerate a clean energy future: 

“It’s so obvious and so vexing – America is not a place where we get stuff done. We say that we want to compete with China – what a joke. It takes 10 years to build one transmission line… So, if you’re not on the permitting reform train, it’s obvious to anybody who’s got any common sense that we have to blow up this existing bureaucracy if we’re going to compete.” 
–Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) 

“I’d really like to double down on this theme we keep hearing of pragmatic… We have to be realistic about what this is and what it’s not. In my world, until we turn our discussion to reducing emissions and not reducing choices, you’re just not going to make progress.” 
–Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) 

“There’s an urgency to this that we need to underscore. There are a lot of good ideas on the table, but we must do this on a scale and at a speed never been done before. This is about American leadership, and this is about Congressional leadership. We cannot just depend on every president that shows up at 1600 Pennsylvania. We have 535 members of Congress that represent the most amazing places on this planet. We can figure this out. It’s going to take strength, courage, and leadership.” 
–Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 

“We need to create new jobs and new opportunities for workers. And that, for our union, is carbon capture, hydrogen, and nuclear. And when we were in COP, we participated in several panels making sure that workers have a voice in the discussion.” 
–Russ Breckenridge, Director of Legislative and Political Affairs for the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters 

“People are recognizing that wind and solar are not enough. They are great solutions, but they need heavyweight support. And the heavyweight support is natural gas replacing foreign coal…Having a surplus of natural gas is going to allow an enhanced buildout of renewables because natural gas can be the complement for an expanded renewables program without sacrificing the reliability that the grid relies on.” 
–Toby Rice, president & CEO of EQT 

“Our goal should be to reduce emissions and that is what we are focused on across the pipeline industry and the gas production industry. It’s clear that natural gas, in partnership with renewables and alongside bipartisan permitting reform, is key to a lower-carbon energy system.”
–Alan S. Armstrong, president and CEO of Williams 

“Permitting reform cannot be partisan and it should not be partisan… We need to move forward quickly on that issue as well as talking about grid reliability.” 
–Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) 

“If we don’t have permitting reform, if we don’t have infrastructure built for the transmission lines, it doesn’t matter everything else that we’re doing… If we can’t get the energy moving, if we can’t get the gas moving, we can’t build these wind farms out in the ocean that don’t have transmission lines to move them, it doesn’t matter. We’re not going to meet the goals.” 
–Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) 

“We can’t put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage by making it so impossible for us to produce because either our energy prices are too high, or we just can’t get the energy to those factories…to those farms…so they can produce the products we need to.” 
–Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) 

“Republicans and conservatives have been challenged by climate science, now democrats and progressives are challenged by climate math. We cannot tolerate science denial or solution denial. We have kind of careened between those two places so I think if this White House were to actually acknowledge what was necessary to achieve its climate goals, that could start to shape the debate in a way that would achieve the speed and scale that we need.” 
–Jason Grumet, CEO of American Clean Power Association 

“We need the American people to understand that natural gas is part of the solution, along with renewables, to reach our climate goals. Policymakers and decisionmakers on the federal, state, and local level must understand how crucial natural gas is to job creation, reliability and affordable, ensuring underserved communities are not left behind.” 
–Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) 

“Permitting reform is going to be absolutely critical for achieving all these goals that we’re talking about here today. Whether that is the energy transition, lowering emissions, or growing manufacturing in the United States.” 
–Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)  

 “COP28 represents a major step forward in the development of pragmatic ‘all of the above’ strategies to dramatically reduce emissions by mid-century.  The strong focus on methane served as a reminder of the critical role of natural gas in the low-carbon energy transition.” 
–Melanie Kenderdine, principal at Energy Futures Initiative 

“I would argue that the largest progress made at COP was the pledge by 50 major state-owned and privately held oil and gas companies to dramatically reduce their methane emissions…I believe that U.S. methane regulations and industry action are now helping to force the global industry to reduce its methane emissions.” 
–Paul Bledsoe, president of Bledsoe & Associates, former Clinton White House climate official 

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About Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future           
Natural Allies is a coalition of interested stakeholders that recognize the vital role natural gas, and its infrastructure must play in the energy mix. Natural gas partnered with renewable energy can accelerate our path to a clean energy future – ensuring affordability and reliability while reducing carbon emissions domestically and internationally. To learn more about the members and the organization, please visit: naturalalliesforcleanenergy.org. 

About PAGE Coalition 
Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE) is a coalition of responsible energy companies, labor unions and leading climate advocates dedicated to reducing global emissions by promoting U.S. policies that protect the climate, strengthen the economy, lower energy costs and bolster energy security through the production and export of cleaner natural gas. More information can be found at Partnership to Address Global Emissions.