When House Republicans took up a measure to speed the government’s reviews of applications to export natural gas, a move long sought by energy companies, the unexpected happened: The bill won “yes” votes from 47 Democrats.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Cory Gardner (R., Colo.), anticipated some Democratic backing, but not that much. Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who leads the Democrats’ House campaign arm, was a yes, as was House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Both voted in 2012 to restrict oil and gas exports.
The energy boom is shaping a new kind of Democrat in national politics, lawmakers who are giving greater support to the oil and gas industry even at the risk of alienating environmental groups, a core of the party’s base. The trend comes as oil-and-gas production moves beyond America’s traditionally energy-rich states, a development that also is increasing U.S. geopolitical influence abroad.
“It’s a huge business opportunity for the country,” said Rep. John Delaney (D., Md.), who was among 17 first-term lawmakers who voted yes on Mr. Gardner’s bill. It passed the House and now awaits action in the Senate.
Mr. Delaney, whose district extends from the Washington-area suburbs to the West Virginia border, opposes a moratorium Maryland has placed on fracking. “I think that has really hurt the western part of my district.”
“When four or five states were responsible for the vast majority of oil and gas production, it was easy to say this is a Republican issue, because most of those states happened to be Republican states,” said Kevin Book, managing director at the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners. “But now that oil and gas production is spreading through unconventional technologies, there’s many more states.”
It is a theme playing out ahead of November’s midterm elections, with some Democrats trying to balance environmental groups’ concerns about climate change and an industry they see as carrying economic benefits.
This tension recently flared in Colorado, where Democrats have been at odds over measures restricting fracking, a process that has unlocked vast supplies of oil and natural gas from rocks deep underground.
In response to concerns about potential groundwater pollution and drilling close to homes, Rep. Jared Polis, a liberal Democrat, had been pushing for a ballot initiative to limit fracking. His move drew opposition from Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall, Democrats in tight re-election races in Colorado. Party leaders feared the measures would allow the GOP to cast Democrats as anti-industry. Mr. Polis retreated last week after the governor agreed to set up a commission to address the issue.
Some Republicans are skeptical of the Democratic Party’s growing support and note many Democrats want more regulations. At the same time, GOP leaders say the phenomenon has moved beyond rhetoric. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), the new House Majority Leader, said in a recent interview he has noticed Democrats being more supportive of the energy boom, “because they see their economy grow by it.”
Mike McKenna, president of conservative lobbying firm MWR Strategies, which has close ties to GOP congressional leadership, said “it’s a genuine shift and an important one.” Among the drivers, he said, is the local tax revenue that comes from related economic growth.
Since March 2008, oil production has increased 58% and natural-gas output has risen 21%, making the U.S. the world’s largest producer of both fuels, according to federal and international agency statistics. Jobs directly related to oil and gas production have nearly doubled in the past 10 years to 697,600, government data shows.
Support is strongest in states that reap the most from new production and the development export terminals for liquefied natural gas in places like Maryland and Oregon. Fracking is poised to start or already has in swing states including Ohio, North Carolina and Nevada.
Energy trade groups have taken notice. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s main lobby group, hired Louis Finkel, a former Democratic congressional adviser, as its No. 2 executive in May. America’s Natural Gas Alliance hired Marty Durbin, a former Democratic aide and nephew to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), as its chief executive in March 2013.
Democrats in new oil and gas states, including Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, are bullish on the boom, while supporting regulations that they portray as robust but not onerous, to safeguard water supplies and reduce air pollution.
In Pennsylvania, where natural-gas production has increased 17-fold since 2008, Mr. Casey has become more vocal recently about the economic benefits. A few years ago, he was pushing for legislation to require disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking. That is no longer a top focus. In congressional testimony this year, he talked up the importance of fracking to his state’s manufacturing sector.
The environmental influence in the Democratic Party remains strong. One of the party’s newest big-money donors is Tom Steyer, a former hedge-fund manager who is committing millions to support lawmakers who want to take action on climate change.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, a group that helped rally opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, say Democrats are talking more about the need to address climate change but that the talk isn’t translating into action.
“I think many of them are either bought off by fossil-fuel donations or don’t understand the science and so imagine they can have it all ways,” Mr. McKibben said. Environmentalists are organizing what they are billing as the biggest climate-change march in history, scheduled for Sept. 21 in New York.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), who has given more than 70 floor speeches urging action on climate change since April 2012, said he wants stricter regulations on methane, a greenhouse gas that can be emitted during the production and transmission of natural gas. But even he praises the boom’s economic benefits. “I’m willing to defer cracking down on natural gas, because the economic benefits to the nation have been so great,” he said in an interview.
In Colorado, where oil production has more than doubled since 2008, Mr. Udall has raised nearly $250,000 this election season from oil and gas companies. He also boasts a 97% lifetime voting record from the League of Conservation Voters. “Energy jobs are an important part of our economic growth in Colorado in the last six years,” said Mr. Udall, who is also pushing alongside his challenger, Mr. Gardner, to expand natural-gas exports.
Kelly Giddens, campaign manager for the Citizens for a Healthy Fort Collins, a Colorado-based environmental group, doesn’t like Mr. Udall’s push for natural-gas exports but also doesn’t want a Republican to take his seat. As for voting for Mr. Udall this November, she said, “It’s going to be a giant hold-your-nose-and-vote thing. But I will.”