When Shawn Steffee took to the podium at the Range Resources field office this month, he stood in front of a crowd of over 500 people, including local elected officials, energy workers in the natural gas industry, and luminaries such as the company’s CEO and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Steffee, the business manager for Boilermakers Local 154 and a local legend in the labor community, said he decided this moment, with Burgum as a captive audience, called for him to speak not from prepared remarks but from the heart.

“We’ve got to use our resources here, and it isnatural gas. We also got coal, we also got nuclear, but where else can we get on board as quickly as we need to is natural gas,” he said.

“So, if I could leave you with one thing today, the boilermakers, and labor, is ready to build the infrastructure of tomorrow. We are ready to build the infrastructure of today, and we need reliable baseload electricity, and it is going to come from natural gas. So, if I could leave you with just one thing, everybody stay committed, keep advocating, keep pushing forward. The pendulum has swung in our direction, and it is time to take what has been given to us and move forward,” Steffee said.