Did a gas lobbyist write an Ohio Senators speech about a pipeline resolution? [Video]

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Republican state Sen. Michael Rulli took the podium to address his colleagues about a resolution declaring natural gas as “vital” to Ohio’s economy, his rhetoric matched nearly word-for-word what an oil and gas lobbyist sent him privately as a “sample script.”

Rulli stood before the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee and, absent some minor changes and reshuffling of some paragraphs, made statements identical to what was sent to him by Mitch Given, an industry lobbyist.

“Senate Resolution 121 recognizes that natural gas and its production industry are vital to Ohio’s economic future,” Rulli told the committee on Sept. 20, 2023. “It urges continued investment in natural gas infrastructure to make affordable energy available to Ohio.”

That’s not too far from a “sample script” sent by Given on May 22 that same year, shortly after Rulli’s resolution was introduced, later obtained by public records request.

“Natural gas and the natural gas industry are vital components of the state’s economic future. With this resolution, I …