Just a few days ago, the New York Post published an article, “Can this man save the democrats?” which outlines Congressman Tim Ryan’s (D-Ohio) run against U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pellosi (D-Calif.) to take over the leadership of the House Democrats and change the party’s trajectory.  Another article called the challenge “Tim Ryan’s Rust Belt Reboot”.

While Ryan lost his bid today, his run was – at least in part – a symbolic stand against a Democratic platform that decided last year to remove the term “all of the above” from its energy platform. This last-ditch effort to “save the democrats” might have a lot to do with what’s happening within the unions, where the building trades are hungry for jobs and are staunch supporters of oil and gas development (while taking on other unions they call “bottom-feeding organizations” supporting the “Keep-It-In-The-Ground” campaign).

Ryan took a bold stand in support of fracking in 2011, arguing shale gas development is a great way to combat climate change. As he said,

“ … There is great opportunity now because the number 1 threat to our world is global warming. Having clean, accessible natural gas can transform our economy and reduce our dependency on foreign oil, which we are doing now. It’s a clean fuel. It’s jobs here in the United States and it reduces our dependency on foreign oil, so we an wind these wars down and get out of Afghanistan and get out of Iraq, and use that money to invest back into the United States.”

And he was absolutely right. Since 2011, carbon emissions are the lowest they have been since 1992—thanks to fracking.

As Utica shale development started, Congressman Ryan penned a guest blog for EID entitled “Energy + Manufacturing = JOBS. At a speaking ...