John Walker, chief executive of EverVest Ltd. and a recent recipient of the World Affairs Council of Houston’s Jones Award, noticed that members of the male-dominated energy business seek out women’s assistance in Congress.

When Republicans held sway in the Senate, it was Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas who often carried the water for oil and gas types. With a current Democratic majority in the Senate, it is Sen. Mary Landrieu from Louisiana who often hears from the industry.

“I find it’s a little bit ironic that in the old boys’ club of the oil and gas industry—in the old boys’ club of the U.S. Senate—that we turn to two girls from Texas and Louisiana to solve our problems,” Walker said, introducing Landrieu to the crowd gathered to honor him.

“Thank goodness she recently became chair of energy and natural resources committee,” he added.

Landrieu quickly launched into a topic that was bound to find approval: five years’ worth of delays on the Keystone XL Pipeline.

“It’s really dragged out for those of us who know that we’ve already got 2.6 million miles of pipelines in this country,” she said. “Why are we fighting over this 1,100-mile pipeline? Get on with it.”

Pipelines and export options can create tremendous opportunity for those who live along “America’s energy coast,” where between Houston and Lafayette, La., there’s up to $100 billion in private sector investment occurring. What all of that adds up to, she said, is the need to think about strong schools that will help build a stronger middle class “to make sure this path upward is open and is not blocked.”

Much of the hesitance in Washington, D.C., comes from people who don’t understand the energy industry, Landrieu said.

“They just think you flip the switch and it automatically comes on … There are not fairy godmothers out there. I wish there were, but they don’t just wave their magic wands and the gas gets automatically in people’s tanks and then they can drive wherever they want,” she said. “It takes work and infrastructure and it takes Washington leaning forward.”

Part of leaning forward includes protecting the environment, she said. Landrieu said that a rebate of just 5% of the taxes generated from activity along the coast would go a long way toward building sufficient levees to protect cities like New Orleans and adequate floodwalls for Galveston, Texas.

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