This story was inspired by a reader question. To submit a question through our Open Source portal, follow this link. This story is Part I of a 3-part series. Part II will publish on Feb. 5 and Part III on Feb. 6. House Bill 507 was approved by the Ohio Legislature in December and takes effect April 7. State senators Mark Romanchuk and Andrew Brenner and state representatives Darrell Kick and Marilyn John all voted in favor of the bill.
MANSFIELD — Natural gas will soon be considered green energy under Ohio law.
In December, Ohio Sen. Mark Romanchuk authored an amendment to House Bill 507 designating natural gas as green energy. The Ohio Legislature passed the bill in December and Gov. Mike DeWine signed it on Jan. 6.
“I hope that it brings awareness to how important natural gas is to our everyday lives and our economy,” Romanchuk said. “There seems to be rhetoric occurring that we should be doing less production. I’m not in that camp.”
Romanchuk, a vocal proponent of natural gas, said Ohio’s economy benefits from the industry.
“Natural gas really is contributing greatly to our gross domestic product here in Ohio. There’s been a tremendous amount of investment over the last decade, roughly about $70 billion. It creates about 400,000 jobs for people here in Ohio,” he added.
The Ontario Republican also described natural gas as more reliable than renewable energy sources like wind and solar and more environmentally-friendly than other fossil fuels.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, switching from coal to natural gas reduces carbon dioxide and methane emissions by an average of 50 percent when producing electricity, and 33 percent when providing heat.
Nevertheless, some environmental advocates say natural gas isn’t clean enough for a green energy label.
Local environmentalist Annette McCormick called the provision absurd.
“It might have lower emissions (than other fossil fuels), but you can’t put a non-renewable resource into the category of renewable energy. It just doesn’t make sense,” she said. “It’s greenwashing at its worst.”
McCormick said she would prefer Ohio invest more effort into developing wind and solar energy sources.
“It’s time to switch over,” she said. “I’m sure they consider (natural gas) a bridge fuel and all that’s OK, but don’t call it green energy.”
Nolan Rutschillinger, managing director of energy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council, called HB 507 part of a disinformation campaign by the fossil fuel industry.
“We vehemently oppose any attempt to portray natural gas as clean or green,” he said. “The natural gas extraction process emits methane and produces carbon emissions when burned to generate electricity.”
Rutschillinger said the majority of natural gas is methane, a greenhouse gas to that has been linked to climate change. Methane can leak into the atmosphere during the extraction and transport of natural gas, or from old or mismanaged pipelines. According to the U.S. EPA, methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
He also criticized the timing of the amendment, one of many added to a lame duck bill four weeks before the end of 2022.
“They pushed this legislation through at the last minute with no public review,” he said.
The EIA also states that while natural gas is a “relatively clean burning fossil fuel,” there are environmental and safety issues to consider related to its production and use.
The Union of Concerned Scientists said noted the drilling and extraction of natural gas from wells and its transportation in pipelines can result in methane leaks.
“Natural gas is a fossil fuel whose emissions contribute to global warming, making it a far less attractive climate solution than lower- and zero-carbon alternatives such as energy efficiency and renewable energy,” the organization states.
“During our nation’s transition to a low-carbon energy future, natural gas can play an important but limited role in the electricity and transportation sectors if policies sufficient to minimize emissions and protect communities and public health are put in place.”
While the primary purpose of his amendment is to raise awareness of the benefits of natural gas, Romanchuk said the change may also help businesses that mine or use natural gas earn higher ESG ratings.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scoring is used by investors to screen potential investments for their social impact. Companies that score lower for their environmental impact may receive less investment than others.
“In today’s world, some of these businesses are under a microscope so to speak with those ESG standards,” Romanchuk said. “I am not sure if that’s going to be helpful for those situations, but I thought that was kind of a secondary benefit.”
HB 507 does state that energy from natural gas is not eligible for state renewable energy credits.
Since its passing, outlets including the Washington Post, Cleveland.com and the Energy News Network have pointed out Romanchuk’s connection with The Empowerment Alliance, a pro-natural gas political organization. Critics have called the TEA a dark money organization.
Romanchuk said he’s familiar with the TEA and has spoken with their representatives in the past, but that he wrote the amendment himself.
“If there was any lobbying, they didn’t talk to me about it,” Romanchuk said.
The senator also denied working with the American Legislative Exchange Council or using model legislation from the group. He said his office actually called ALEC to see if they had model legislation available and the organization didn’t.
“They never have had any model legislation,” Romanchuk said. “All these groups or whoever it was saying there was model legislation, it doesn’t exist. It never has.”
A member of the Senate’s Energy and Public Utilities Committee, Romanchuk said he’s familiar with the ins and outs of various energy sources.
“In the legislature, we do hear both sides of an issue,” he said. “We hear from the people who are really for something and we hear from people that are against something.”
Rather than lobbying groups, Romanchuk said his green energy amendment was inspired by reports from across the Atlantic. EU lawmakers decided in July 2022 to classify some natural gas and nuclear energy projects as “green” for the sake of investment, though not all member states agreed with the decision.
Luxembourg and Austria have threatened to take the EU to court over the decision. NGOs including Greenpeace have also voiced opposition.
Supporters of natural gas say it could serve as a transitional energy source while the world works toward more sustainable clean energy.
“In Europe’s point of view, it’s a transition fuel. It’s a transition to get them from the old fired coal plants to something that’s 100% emission free,” Romanchuk said. “Whether we get there or not, I don’t know. Time will tell.”
