PHILADELPHIA—Sitting on a dais at the private Fitler Club for what was billed as a discussion about “the Path to a Clean Energy Future,” former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter played to his audience.
“We have seven, eight seasons of an incredible comedy with some really great actors. You know, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’” he said. “Well, it’s not actually always sunny in Philadelphia, and it’s not always windy either, right?” The crowd laughed.
Energy “has to be reliable, it has to be affordable,” he added, one theme of an argument made throughout the evening that the path to a clean energy future should be built on gas. “It has to be there when people need it. It’s not a sometime thing.”
That messaging is favored by the event’s sponsor, Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, a coalition formed in 2020 to “educate and inform about the central role natural gas and natural gas infrastructure play in the clean energy future and as a partner to renewables.” Natural Allies’ goal is to redefine gas as “the most affordable and reliable energy source.”
Natural Allies—whose funders include the fracking company EQT, gas utility Enbridge and Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas provider—woos left-leaning and moderate voters in blue and purple states by hiring Democratic leaders like Nutter to share their message. Nutter’s advisory firm was paid $240,000 in 2024 for his work on behalf of the group, and he sits on its leadership council with other Democratic politicians like former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan.
Eugene DePasquale, the current chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, is the state chairman for Natural Allies. He appeared on the panel alongside Nutter.
“It’s always been focused on, ‘How do we convince Democrat officials to stay onside to support fossil fuels?’” said Charlie Spatz, a research manager at the Energy and Policy Institute, of Natural Allies’ mission. “They exclusively exist to influence Democrats, in my opinion.”
The group was created to ensure that gas companies still have “a seat at the table,” no matter which party is in power or what is happening in Washington, D.C., Spatz said. The second Trump administration’s rollbacks of Biden-era climate policies and enthusiasm for fossil fuels mean that regional and local battles are more important to the industry in 2026. Natural Allies spends money to influence politics in key states like Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and New Jersey, targeting women, people of color and younger voters.
“They do a lot of sowing of doubt,” said Alan Zibel, research director at Public Citizen, which investigated the group in 2024. “It’s very sneaky and probably effective.”
“I talk about natural gas as a part of a clean energy future as we transition to newer, better and greater,” Nutter said during the panel….
Read More: Gas Industry Front Group Targets Democrats in Pennsylvania
