![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250711-gasplant.jpg\")
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Lylla Younes\/Grist<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0Grist<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/p>\n In Louisiana, natural gas\u2014a planet-heating fossil fuel\u2014is now, by law, considered \u201cgreen energy\u201d that can compete with solar and wind projects for clean energy funding. The law, signed by Republican Governor Jeff Landry last month, comes on the heels of similar bills passed in Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana. What the bills have in common\u2014besides an \u201cupdated definition\u201d of a fossil fuel as a clean energy source\u2014is language seemingly plucked straight from a right-wing think tank backed by oil and gas\u00a0billionaire and activist Charles Koch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Louisiana\u2019s law was based on a\u00a0template<\/a>\u00a0created by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that brings legislators and corporate lobbyists together to draft bills \u201cdedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism.<\/a>\u201d The law maintains that Louisiana, in order to minimize its reliance on \u201cforeign adversary nations\u201d for energy, must ensure that natural gas and nuclear power are eligible for \u201call state programs that fund \u2018green energy\u2019 or \u2018clean energy\u2019 initiatives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But natural gas, also known as\u00a0methane\u00a0gas, is no more natural than any other fossil fuel. Its primary ingredient is methane, an intense heat-trapping gas that is far more potent than the carbon pollution produced by coal and oil, though it doesn\u2019t stay in the atmosphere as long. <\/p>\n It\u2019s often marketed as a \u201cbridge fuel\u201d\u2014a less harmful fossil fuel that can be used as communities transition away from coal\u2014but studies have found that over the long term, the planet-warming impact of the natural gas industry\u00a0may be equivalent to that of coal.\u00a0<\/a>That\u2019s because gas pipelines often leak; according to an\u00a0Environmental Defense Fund analysis<\/a>, natural gas pipelines in the US allow between 1.2 million and 2.6 million tons of methane to escape into the atmosphere each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s classic greenwashing, right?\u2026The intent of these laws is to allow the build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Louisiana state Rep. Jacob Landry first introduced a near-identical bill to the model posted on ALEC\u2019s website and to the other bills that have passed in\u00a0Ohio<\/a>,\u00a0Tennessee<\/a>, and\u00a0Indiana<\/a>. (The Washington Post\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in 2023 that ALEC was involved in Ohio\u2019s bill; ALEC denies involvement.) Landry, who represents a small district in the southern part of the state, is the recipient of significant fossil fuel-industry funding\u2014and he\u00a0co-owns two oil and gas consulting firms<\/a>\u00a0himself. During his campaign for the state Legislature, Landry received donations from at least 15 fossil-fuel-affiliated companies and PACs, including ExxonMobil (which has also funded ALEC) and Phillips 66. Those donations alone totaled over $20,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n Landry did not respond to multiple requests for comment. ALEC did not get back to Grist in time for publication.<\/p>\n While Louisiana has one of the\u00a0least reliable grids<\/a>\u00a0in the country, that lack of reliability is in large part due to the state\u2019s reliance on natural gas, which provides most of its electricity, according to a 2025\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor\u2019s Office. \u201cBest practices have found that gas plants are susceptible to large-scale failures during extreme weather,\u201d\u00a0the auditors wrote<\/a>. \u201cDiversifying the energy sources used for electricity generation is a priority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bills that benefit both the fossil fuel industry and the individual lawmakers who introduce them aren\u2019t exactly a new genre in Louisiana, said Laura Peterson, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. What\u2019s less standard is that this one is dressed up in climate-friendly language.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLouisiana is a classic example of a captured state,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cTheir state economy is just so dependent on fossil fuels and petrochemicals.\u201d (The amount of money the fossil fuel industry brings to Louisiana\u2019s people, though, has been\u00a0on the decline<\/a>\u00a0since the turn of the century.)\u00a0<\/p>\n The state accounts for about 10 percent of the country\u2019s natural gas production and holds about 6 percent of U.S. natural gas reserves. Natural gas is already used to generate about three-quarters of the state\u2019s electricity, and building out more pipeline projects to carry liquefied natural gas, or LNG, won\u2019t necessarily make electricity bills cheaper for residents, Peterson said.<\/p>\n \u201cBuilding LNG infrastructure is not going to lower anyone\u2019s energy prices in the short term,\u201d since it takes many years to build a pipeline, Peterson said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot of research that shows that overreliance on gas leaves power grids vulnerable to extreme weather, which Louisiana has a lot of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeffrey Clark, president of the Louisiana Advanced Power Alliance\u2014an industry group representing both renewable and fossil fuel energy companies and investors\u2014testified in opposition to the bill in early June.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation is being promoted as a solution to Louisiana\u2019s reliability challenges. But with all due respect, it is a solution in search of a problem,\u201d\u00a0Clark said<\/a>. \u201cWe support fossil fuels as a key part of the nation\u2019s energy mix, but codifying them as the only acceptable path forward dismisses a growing body of evidence that grid reliability depends on resource diversity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fossil fuel advocacy groups lauded the move. Larry Behrens of the nonprofit Power the Future\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that the legislation turns Louisiana into an \u201cenergy sanctuary state,\u201d taking \u201ca direct shot at the China-backed solar and wind lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n Reclassifying natural gas as \u201cgreen\u201d energy<\/a>\u00a0means that proposed natural gas pipelines may be able to access funding that would otherwise have gone to new solar or wind projects; it may also make natural gas companies more appealing to environmentally conscious investors. <\/p>\n ALEC, the right-wing think tank that provided the template language for Landry\u2019s bill, noted in a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0that resolutions like this could pave the way for more AI data centers in the state, too. \u201cRedefining \u2018green energy\u2019 allows utilities to continue using natural gas while fulfilling state \u2018green energy\u2019 or \u2018clean energy\u2019 initiatives,\u201d ALEC staffer Mark Lucas wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the years, ALEC has succeeded in getting laws that benefit fossil fuel companies passed across the country. Recently the group, which was founded in the 1970s, has helped draft legislation\u00a0criminalizing grassroots protest<\/a>\u00a0against pipelines, gas terminals, and other fossil fuel infrastructure\u2014versions of that bill had passed in 17 states by 2022. Its members have also drafted bills aiming to punish\u00a0economic boycotts<\/a>\u00a0of the oil industry. And there are currently 114 different model policies related to energy on ALEC\u2019s website, 23 of which specifically address \u201cgreen energy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s classic greenwashing, right?\u201d said Peterson of the new Louisiana law\u2014using the language of sustainability to describe an activity that\u2019s actually not sustainable at all. \u201cThe intent of these laws is to allow the build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure, which will perpetuate the use of fossil fuels for decades to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lylla Younes\/Grist Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. 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