Governance

Public Policy
and Perception

We aim to see the larger impact on communities, operators, the environment, and the economy when we consider and engage with policy issues in our industry. We collaborate with government agencies such as the National Safety Council and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to improve safety regulations related to the industry. We also work to support federal, state, and local policies that promote stable investment climates for natural gas exploration, production, storage, and transportation. These may include policies governing environmental protection, taxes, permitting reform, natural gas production, transportation, and expanding the use of natural gas in sectors such as transportation, manufacturing, and electricity generation. The impact of our operations and use of natural gas by our stakeholders remains a key driver for our influence and engagement.

We shape policies that affect our company and our industry at the local, state, and federal levels directly, in addition to engaging on federal policies through our membership in trade associations. In 2023, we participated in CERA week and in COP28 in Dubai. For more information related to COP28, see Climate Change Strategy.

We also continued our leadership role in the Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE), adding two new members in 2023. PAGE promotes policies to replace coal consumption and strives to solve complex global energy and climate problems. Within PAGE, we push for the enactment of policies that will help create the infrastructure needed to increase the production and export of U.S. LNG.

We comply with applicable local, county, state, and federal laws when we conduct public policy activities. Our Public Relations and Government Affairs teams, collectively referred to as “Stakeholder Affairs,” guide and oversee our public policy activities. Additionally, the Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility (PPCR) Committee of our Board of Directors receives regular reports about these activities at each regular PPCR Committee meeting. The PPCR Committee reviews and receives reports about our approach to public policy matters, including corporate political spending; diversity; environmental, health, and safety (EHS); and energy.

Our Political Contributions and Political Activity Policy and Lobbying Disclosure and Compliance Policy help manage our interactions with regulatory agencies and elected officials. We require, among other things, that employees not engage in lobbying activities on our behalf and that corporate treasury dollars not be used for political purposes, in each case without prior approval from our General Counsel. The PPCR Committee annually reviews our contributions made to political candidates and discusses public policy issues that affect us to help ensure compliance with our policies and applicable law.

Our political spending is limited to the United States, and we comply with the laws and regulations in each jurisdiction where we are politically active. We also adhere to federal and state campaign finance laws on political spending in support of political parties, politicians, and related institutions. We fund our political spending through three sources:

• The non-partisan EQT Corporation Federal Political Action Committee (PAC), sourced solely from voluntary employee contributions;
• The non-partisan EQT Corporation State PAC, sourced from voluntary employee contributions and transfers from the EQT Federal PAC; and
• EQT corporate treasury dollars.

Members from our senior management comprise the Board of Directors of our PACs and our General Counsel serves as Chair of both PAC Boards. Our PAC Boards meet as necessary to approve political contributions and to take other actions. At each meeting, representatives from our Stakeholder Affairs team present to the PAC Boards on relevant political issues and key political races. At each meeting, the PAC Boards also discuss fundraising efforts and solicitation and contribution strategies for the PACs.

We actively participate in member and trade organizations to improve our industry. In 2023, we continued our founding-member-level engagement in three key organizations — the PAGE Coalition, the Appalachian Methane Initiative, and the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). For more information on our activities in these organizations, see Climate Change Strategy.

In 2023, we continued our participation in industry associations — such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Gas & Oil Association of West Virginia, and the American Exploration and Production Council — to discuss local, state, and federal issues pertinent to natural gas, and the ISNetworld® Appalachian Working Group to share safety-related best practices. We continued to participate in Our Nation's Energy Future Coalition and The Environmental Partnership, where we work with like-minded companies to improve environmental performance and to lower emissions. Our membership with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future is focused on building a better understanding of how natural gas can play a vital role in the lower-carbon economy. We also joined the National Association of Manufacturers, which works to highlight how natural gas provides reliable and affordable energy to our nation’s manufacturers.

We assign one employee as the relationship manager for each of our membership organizations. Many of our employees also sit on the boards of local chambers of commerce and industry associations of which we are members. We provide a list of our corporate memberships, disclosing 2023 dues paid and the portion allocated to lobbying under How We Are Doing.

In 2023, we continued to use our associations dashboard in our digital work environment to track our corporate memberships. The dashboard tracks our membership status, renewal date, membership dues, the organization type, and the geographic focus of each organization in which we are a member or have considered joining. This data can be accessed by all our employees to help ensure both accuracy and full transparency of our membership data. Additionally, every proposed corporate membership is submitted for approval to our ESG Committee and the ESG Committee also reviews all our active corporate memberships on an annual basis. The ESG Committee uses a pre-defined scoring rubric to assign a membership score to each proposed organization based on the organization’s influence, historical success in achieving its stated goals, and whether the organization’s mission is aligned with our corporate mission and strategy.

Thought leadership is a critical component to achieving our mission. We believe that natural gas is an essential energy form in the United States with strong potential to satisfy the growing energy demand globally. We also recognize the importance of GHG emission reductions from our operations. That is why, in 2022, we eliminated substantially all the natural gas-powered pneumatic devices used in our production operations. Natural gas pneumatic devices have historically been a significant source of methane and GHG emissions within the oil and natural gas production industry and, therefore, the replacement of these pieces of equipment provides the industry with significant opportunities to reduce emissions with limited capital outlay. We also published a whitepaper that highlights our research and findings on the development and implementation of a pneumatic device replacement program so that other operators can leverage our experience and implement this process in their own operations. Read more about how we reduce our GHG emissions in Operational GHG Emissions.

Additionally, in 2023, our Chief Executive Officer, Toby Rice, continued his participation in an LNG Task Force in Pennsylvania to further explore opportunities to export U.S. LNG. We believe natural gas is critical to accelerate a sustainable pathway to a lower-carbon future and achieve global climate goals. We believe the United States is well positioned to lead this transition with plentiful access to natural gas resources and we remain committed to using our voice to educate policymakers about the environmental, social, and economic benefits of natural gas production and consumption. For more information, please see Climate Change Strategy and Unleashing U.S. LNG.