The climate crisis will require life style changes and spending changes!

From Stephanie Wissman, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 9, 2023

Regarding the article “Pittsburgh-based plan passed over as hydrogen hub selections draw statewide praise” (Oct. 13, TribLIVE): Building a lower carbon future means ensuring the success of the Department of Energy’s new hydrogen hubs. The hubs are networks of clean hydrogen producers, consumers and connective infrastructure working together to kick-start the growth of a low-carbon hydrogen economy.

Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region’s abundant natural gas and skilled workforce make our area a prime location for hydrogen development, with the promise of economic growth and advancing shared climate goals.

A recent study found that if policies are implemented to support all types of hydrogen development, it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 37% through 2050 and inject billions of dollars into the economy through jobs. To unlock these benefits, we need to start building the necessary infrastructure.

Given a workforce of over 423,000 already supported by the natural gas and oil industry, Pennsylvania is ready to embrace this new energy opportunity. With over half the proposed hubs using hydrogen produced from natural gas and carbon capture, this project will kick-start the next generation of energy development.

Pennsylvania has a proud history of energy production and a wealth of potential for innovation. Let’s all work together to make hydrogen a cornerstone of our cleaner energy future.

>>> Stephanie Catarino Wissman, Executive Director, American Petroleum Institute Pennsylvania, Harrisburg

#######+++++++#######+++++++########

‘Climate Scam’: 180+ Groups Tell Biden to Drop Support for Hydrogen

From an Article by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, August 22, 2023

“Calling hydrogen clean energy is a scam to prop up the oil and gas industry,” said one campaigner.

More than 95% of hydrogen produced in the United States is made using fossil fuels, but that hasn’t stopped its backers — including industry groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — from touting the energy source as critical to the fight against climate change.

A diverse coalition of advocacy organizations on Tuesday implored the Biden administration to stop buying into the hype.

In a letter to officials at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), more than 180 groups called on the administration to abandon plans to invest in hydrogen projects, warning that “a large-scale buildout of hydrogen infrastructure will further exacerbate the climate crisis and disproportionately harm people of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous peoples.”

Two recently enacted pieces of legislation—the Inflation Reduction Act and a bipartisan infrastructure measure championed by oil industry ally Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—include benefits for the hydrogen industry.

The latter bill authorized the Department of Energy to spend roughly $8 billion on developing Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs), drawing outrage from community organizers in Colorado, New Mexico, and other states behind the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, a project aimed at expanding U.S. hydrogen production.

“We recognize that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directs DOE to fund these hubs, but we ask DOE to find a different path and reject this false solution. It’s time for DOE to do the right thing,” the groups wrote in their letter on Tuesday.

The groups behind the letter — including the Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch — note that hydrogen production generates significant planet-warming emissions.

“Hydrogen lifecycle emissions which use carbon capture and storage are 20% greater than directly burning natural gas or coal, and 60% greater than burning diesel oil, because of the increased fossil fuels required to power it,” the letter states. “The process of producing gray and blue hydrogen is a major source of fugitive methane emissions from flaring, transportation, and other upstream processes—releasing even more potent greenhouse gases and exacerbating atmospheric warming over the next two decades.”

“President Biden can’t claim to be a climate leader while his administration continues to embrace the hydrogen climate scam and other policies that continue to perpetuate fossil fuel production and infrastructure.”

As Nature explained in an editorial warning against “overhyping” hydrogen, “Most hydrogen is currently made by processes—such as steam reformation of natural gas (methane)—that produce large amounts of CO2 as a by-product.”

“Although ‘green’ hydrogen can be made by using electricity from renewable sources to split water molecules,” the outlet added, “this process is costly compared with more conventional production methods.”

Silas Grant, a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday that “calling hydrogen clean energy is a scam to prop up the oil and gas industry.”

“The Biden administration’s plans to expand this dirty energy will only increase oil and gas extraction at a time when the climate emergency demands the opposite,” said Grant. “We need investment in affordable, reliable, community-supported renewable energy like wind and solar.”

The coalition’s letter comes two months after New Mexico-based advocacy organizations urged the Biden administration to reject funding for the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, arguing the initiative would “devastate public health, clean air, Indigenous sacred places, and the climate.”

“The climate crisis poses a grave threat to all life on Earth,” the groups wrote in a letter to the U.S. Energy Department. “DOE has the power to help lead a transformation to a more sustainable future. To do so, you must help phase out fossil fuels and reject false solutions like hydrogen.”

But the Biden White House has yet to waver in its support for hydrogen, claiming in a brief last month that “clean hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing the U.S. economy.”

Jim Walsh, policy director at Food & Water Watch, countered Tuesday that investments in hydrogen are “a distraction from real climate action that will cause more pollution, more strain on water resources, and more extraction of climate warming fossil fuels.”

“President Biden can’t claim to be a climate leader while his administration continues to embrace the hydrogen climate scam and other policies that continue to perpetuate fossil fuel production and infrastructure,” Walsh added.

Massena, NY, is on the St. Lawrence River at the Canadian border

From an Article by Lucy Grindon, America Corps, October 18, 2022

Air Products, a company that makes industrial gases and chemicals, has announced plans to open a new liquid hydrogen manufacturing facility in Massena. The facility will require an investment of about $500 million.

Patrick Kelly, CEO of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, said the project reaffirms Massena’s status as an important regional manufacturing center. Multiple plants for companies like General Motors, Reynolds, and Alcoa have closed or downsized there over the past few decades. “It’s a major milestone in establishing New York State as a hydrogen energy leader,” Kelly said.

NASA calls liquid hydrogen “the fuel of choice for space exploration.” It’s often used to power rockets. It’s also seen as a key green energy source that can reduce carbon emissions and slow the effects of climate change. Liquid hydrogen is becoming more common in the shipping and manufacturing industries. In the future, it may be used for more cars.

Earlier this year, Governor Kathy Hochul said she wants New York to become a “regional clean energy hydrogen hub.”

To make liquid hydrogen, water and electricity are required. Kelly said the area around Massena is rich in those resources. “We have low-cost renewable energy, we have an abundance of water,” he said. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has made a deal to provide Air Products with low-cost electricity. Some of that electricity will come from NYPA’s hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River.

Kelly said the area also has plenty of workers with manufacturing skills because of its history of aluminum production, mining, paper mills, and food production. Those workers will be another important resource that Air Products will need, he said. The facility still has yet to be built. Commercial operations are scheduled to begin in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

NYPA spokesperson Paul DeMichele said that after Air Products starts using NYPA’s low-cost electricity, the company will have three years to create at least 90 new full-time jobs, per its deal with the state. “There’s a hundred-year history or better history in Massena of being a world-class manufacturing community,” Kelly said. “There’s a specific and someone unique skill set in running these kinds of facilities.”

#######+++++++#######+++++++########

SEE ALSO: Ammonia might just be the ticket for a more sustainable future, Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, October 19, 2022

Largely used to make fertilizer, ammonia might have another trick up its sleeve. It could, some claim, be the “green” holy grail of alternatives fuels. This is because it uses the same existing transportation and distribution methods that industries are already using without requiring any infrastructure changes. In the past ten years, attempts to employ ammonia in gas turbines and internal combustion engines have significantly increased.

As a potential fuel source, ammonia has some significant advantages:

>> It is both carbon-free and relatively safe for the environment (excluding carbon costs for its production).
>> It has three hydrogen atoms and could perhaps be employed as a hydrogen carrier.
>> Compared to many other fuels, their manufacturing, storage, transportation, and distribution are significantly simpler.
>> It is practical and affordable for use in applications.
>> It could serve as a substitute for kerosene, diesel, and gasoline.
>> It can be considered for all combustion systems, including gas turbines and engines.
>> It might be a viable fuel for renewable energy production in remote places.

The hydrogen storage challenges are substantial .....

From an Explainer Article by Quinn Glabicki, Public Source, 8/8/22

Nature’s simplest element is at the center of a new energy strategy that has won the support of much of the Pittsburgh region’s leadership, while drawing scorn from sustainability advocates who say it would actually entrench the carbon economy.

As proponents tout the potential of so-called blue hydrogen to shepherd our region to a sustainable future, climate scientists and financial analysts question the viability — technologically, economically and ideologically — of developing a hydrogen hub reliant on natural gas and carbon capture in Western Pennsylvania.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last November contained $8 billion appropriated for four “clean hydrogen hubs” nationwide. In May, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that his administration would pursue the federal funds for Pennsylvania, and the state’s bipartisan congressional delegation threw its weight behind the effort in June. Even before that, a group of local industrial titans including Shell, EQT and U.S. Steel issued a joint press release pledging support for the idea.

With the process still firmly in the beginning stages, questions remain about how a hydrogen hub would be implemented, who gets a say in that process and whether it advances climate goals.

PublicSource spoke with climate scientists, financial analysts, critics and industry stakeholders in an effort to better understand the status and viability of the proposed hydrogen hub. Here are some of the questions and emerging answers.

What does hydrogen have to do with energy? When hydrogen burns, it produces heat and the only byproduct is water. The most abundant element in the universe, however, is itself not a source of energy.

“Hydrogen is another form of energy storage, like batteries,” said Neil Donahue, a climate scientist and professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University [CMU]. “Batteries are not a form of energy, nor is hydrogen.” The question, says Donahue: Where does the energy needed to produce hydrogen come from?

Renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear power are all potential energy sources for hydrogen production. Each occupies a corresponding space on a figurative color wheel often used in discussions of hydrogen power.

>> Green hydrogen is made using renewables like solar and wind energy through electrolysis to isolate the element.

>> Blue hydrogen is produced using natural gas, and the carbon emissions are captured and stored underground using carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technology.

>> When hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels but the carbon is released into the atmosphere, it’s known as gray hydrogen.

>> Nuclear power can also be used to create hydrogen in a process known as pink hydrogen.

>> Regardless of the energy input, the hydrogen produced is identical.

Experts say that hydrogen, when produced cleanly, has significant potential to reduce global carbon emissions, particularly among heavy industries like steel and concrete manufacturing, in large-scale transportation like trucking and aviation, and as a vehicle for energy storage in fuel cells. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s [IPCC] climate mitigation report released earlier this year listed hydrogen as a viable pathway to net-zero carbon emissions.

What is a hydrogen hub?

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law describes a regional clean hydrogen hub as “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers and connective infrastructure located in close proximity.” The bill dictates that two of the four envisioned hubs are destined for areas “with the greatest natural gas resources.”

Because of abundant natural gas resources and infrastructure in Western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, a hydrogen hub in this region would in all likelihood be blue — that is, it would source the energy needed to produce hydrogen from natural gas, at least to start.

….. see this extensive Article from the ‘Public Source’ …

#######+++++++#######+++++++#######

Public Power Officials Play Key Roles With Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association

Douglas County PUD General Manager Gary Ivory and Tacoma Power Director Jackie Flowers are playing key roles with the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2), serving as the association’s secretary and treasurer, respectively.

PNWH2 recently completed its formation with election of Washington Commerce Director Lisa Brown as chair and Oregon Department of Energy Director Janine Benner as vice chair of the board.

The group is a non-profit, public-private partnership leading a regional effort to land a share of the U.S. Department of Energy’s $8 billion investment in a nationwide network of clean hydrogen hubs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Formed at the direction of the Washington State Legislature, PNWH2 is currently preparing a final call for projects for consideration in its proposal to DOE.

A final request for information for individual project proposals is opening in early September. The RFI will be posted on Washington’s Electronic Business Solutions (WEBS) portal. More Information is available on the PNWH2 website and by emailing info@pnwh2.com.

>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>

Build Back Better Lives Again, Now With Green Hydrogen

President Biden’s signature Build Back Better bill fell into the dustbin of history last summer, but apparently the US Department of Commerce did not get the memo. The agency has just put up $50 million for a green hydrogen hub in the New Orleans region under a new program called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). That’s going to be a tough row to hoe, considering the grip of fossil fuel stakeholders on the Pelican State. However, Build Back Better is all about transformation, right?

Follow The Money To Green Hydrogen ~ In an interesting twist, South Louisiana’s BBBRC grant dovetails with the U.S. Energy Department’s $8 billion plan to create a network of regional “Clean Hydrogen Hubs” throughout the US. The plan is funded through last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The new grant could give H2theFuture a leg up on the sustainable H2 competition. They’ll need all they help they can get. Also competing for a share of the $8 billion pot is a powerful alliance of six northeast coastal states that are primed and ready to tap into their offshore wind resources. That group initially launched with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Maine and Rhode Island have also hopped on board.

>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>

Didado Electric to Partner with Newpoint Gas on Advanced Hydrogen Generation and Carbon Sequestration Project in Ohio

Didado Electric announced today that it has signed a teaming agreement with Newpoint Gas to serve as a design assist and installation partner and provide electrical and grid services work on the redevelopment of the former U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) into an advanced hydrogen generation, decarbonization and combustion clean energy manufacturing facility near Piketon, Ohio.

The centerpiece of the h2Trillium Energy and Manufacturing (h2TEAM) Complex, the $1.5 billion project will be an integrated energy system – closed loop manufacturing facility powered by clean hydrogen, with carbon sequestration. At peak, in the construction phase, it will provide approximately 2,900 jobs and, when finished, will produce clean silicon, ammonia, and power.

>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>

Governor Hochul Announces $16.6 Million in Awards for Five Long Duration Energy Storage Projects To Help Harness Renewable Energy and Provide Stored Energy to New York’s Electric Grid

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $16.6 million in awards for five long duration energy storage projects that will help harness renewable energy and provide stored energy to New York’s electric grid. Governor Hochul also announced an additional $17 million in competitive funding available for projects that advance development and demonstration of scalable innovative long duration energy storage technologies, including hydrogen. The projects will support the current Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal to install 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030 while facilitating further development to 6,000 megawatts.

Governor Hochul made today’s announcement at the 2022 Advanced Energy Conference in New York City. These awards and new funding are being made available through the Renewable Optimization and Energy Storage Innovation Program administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The awards and funding will advance renewable energy integration and reduce harmful emissions from reliance on fossil fuels. The $16.6 million in awards will support the following projects:

>>> Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. – $2.7 million – To develop, design and construct two stand-alone energy storage systems and perform field demonstrations of a six-hour zinc hybrid cathode energy storage system in New York City to help demonstrate that zinc hybrid technology is economically competitive with lithium-ion.

>>> JC Solutions, LLC dba RCAM Technologies – $1.2 million – To develop a 3D concrete printed marine pumped hydroelectric storage system that integrates directly with offshore wind development in support of grid resiliency and reduced reliance on fossil fuel plants to meet periods of peak electric demand.

>>> Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC- $12.5 million – To demonstrate nuclear-hydrogen fueled peak power generation paired with a long duration hydrogen energy storage unit to help reduce emissions from the New York Independent System Operator electric grid.

>>> Power to Hydrogen – $100,000 – To develop a Reversible Fuel Cell System for Hydrogen Production and Energy Storage called the Clean Energy Bridge and to help facilitate the system’s readiness for demonstration and commercial adoption.

>>> ROCCERA, LLC – $100,000 – To evaluate and demonstrate a novel commercially viable Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell prototype for clean hydrogen production together with a corresponding scalable, more efficient manufacturing process.

Akzoa plant produces hydrogen by electrolysis (see below)

From an Article by Justine Calma, The Verge, June 7, 2022

PHOTO in ARTICLE ~ A new plant in Puertollano, Spain, will be Europe’s largest production site for green hydrogen for industrial use.

The Department of Energy kicked off a new $8 billion program yesterday to develop a network of hubs for producing hydrogen as a clean fuel. It’s a milestone for one of the Biden administration’s most contentious strategies for tackling climate change.

Hydrogen has the potential to slash emissions from some of the industries that are the hardest to clean up. It might replace coal used in making steel or fossil fuels that power diesel trucks and cargo ships. When burned, it produces water vapor instead of greenhouse gas emissions (although it can still contribute to nitrogen oxide pollution in the air).

The tricky part is that not all hydrogen is created the same way ~

The tricky part is that not all hydrogen is created the same way and can come with different benefits and pitfalls. At the moment, most hydrogen is made using gas. To make hydrogen from gas, methane reacts with high-temperature steam under high pressure. That process releases carbon dioxide, and then there’s the threat to the climate that comes from methane leaks across the entire gas industry. Methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

So, the Biden administration needs to clean up hydrogen production before it can use hydrogen to decarbonize other industries. The DOE laid out part of its plan to clean up that process yesterday when it filed a Notice of Intent (NOI), a document saying that it plans to announce a funding opportunity in September or October to develop clean hydrogen hubs, which it calls “H2Hubs.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides funding for at least four hubs; the NOI says the DOE is considering funding between six and 10 hubs to start its program. Of those hubs, at least one is supposed to make hydrogen using renewable energy. Another hub is supposed to power hydrogen production with nuclear energy. And, at least one hub should be able to show it can make clean hydrogen from fossil fuels by pairing it with technologies that capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions. But the DOE also says it will look for at least two hubs in regions with “abundant natural gas resources,” which could lead to more H2Hubs running on fossil fuels than renewable energy.

Clean energy experts are watching the DOE’s moves closely when it comes to hydrogen. If the DOE isn’t careful about what kinds of projects it chooses, all the hype for hydrogen could give the gas industry a boost at a time when research shows the world should be phasing out the dirty fuel to prevent more catastrophic climate change.

Hydrogen production that pairs gas with carbon capture doesn’t create a truly clean fuel and could even lead to more greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios. When that kind of hydrogen is used to heat buildings, for example, it can be even dirtier than the heating systems it replaces, researchers from Stanford and Cornell found in a study published last year. That’s primarily because gas production and use is rife with methane leaks from wells, pipelines, and even appliances in homes and businesses. It’s a big climate problem that could extend to gas-based hydrogen hubs.

Hydrogen production that pairs gas with carbon capture doesn’t create a truly clean fuel
Because of that risk, the Department of Energy needs to tighten up its standards for what’s considered a clean hydrogen project, say experts at the nonprofits Union of Concerned Scientists and RMI. Its $8 billion in funding for clean hydrogen comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last year, and the language in the law only considers the climate impact of CO2 emissions at the site of hydrogen production.

A safer approach, according to the nonprofits, would be to scrutinize all greenhouse gas emissions that come from the entire supply chain and the process of making hydrogen. In a sign that the DOE might keep that in mind as it assesses applications for funding, the NOI it issued this week says the department “intends to also evaluate full lifecycle emissions for each application and will give preference to applications that reduce GHG emissions across the full project lifecycle.”

Truly “green hydrogen,” in contrast, is made with renewable energy-powered electrolysis that splits water to get to the hydrogen. This process is less polluting, but, at the moment, it’s still more expensive than making hydrogen with gas and carbon capture because electrolyzers are pricey.

The Biden administration is working to bring that cost down. President Joe Biden authorized the use of the Defense Production Act yesterday to bolster domestic supply chains for clean energy technologies, including electrolyzers. The Department of Energy launched an initiative last year aimed at dropping the cost of clean hydrogen by 80 percent to $1 per kilogram by the end of the decade.

>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>…………………>>>>>>>>

See Also ~ AkzoNobel unveils plans to build Europe’s largest green hydrogen facility

AkzoNobel, the global paints, coating and specialty chemicals firm and WorldGBC Partner, has unveiled plans to build Europe’s largest green hydrogen production plant in a bid to cut global CO2 emissions.

The facility, to be built in the Netherlands in collaboration with gas network operator Gasunie, would use a 20 megawatt (MW) water electrolysis unit to convert sustainable electricity into hydrogen. This would mark an important step in scaling up the technology, which is seen as crucial for reducing CO2 emissions.

The planned installation would produce around 3,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each year, which can either be used by AkzoNobel’s chemicals division or be sold to third parties, such as public transport companies using hydrogen buses.

The eventual aim is to convert and store sustainable energy in the form of hydrogen on a much larger scale, with plants of at least 100MW. So far, the largest planned unit in the Netherlands has a capacity of 1MW. Industrial factories in the Netherlands currently use more than 800,000 tons of hydrogen produced by natural gas each year.

The challenges of carbon dioxide capture & storage persist here (click to expand)

From an Article by Audrey Carleton, VICE Communications, February 8, 2022

The fossil fuel industry has a new plan for Appalachia: Blue hydrogen.

An alliance between some of the largest corporations in the energy business — Shell, General Electric Gas Power, EQT Corporation, Equinor, Mitsubishi, US Steel and Marathon Petroleum — announced in a press release late last week their plan to create a “hydrogen industrial hub” in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Their plan is to work with local stakeholders in the process, creating “a national model for sustainable energy and production systems.”

The companies are putting their faith in an element that’s gained traction as an energy form in recent months, as the bipartisan infrastructure bill includes billions of dollars to build out clean hydrogen energy development. Hydrogen is also the most abundant element in the universe, existing in water, alcohols, and the like.

Producing hydrogen as an energy source requires separating H atoms from other elements in the molecules where it naturally occurs (so, removing the H from H2O, for example). This is most commonly done commercially using steam to separate hydrogen from methane in natural gas; the finished product is referred to as ‘blue hydrogen,’ because it is emissions-free when burned, but is made with polluting sources of energy. (Its green counterpart, ‘green hydrogen’ is made by separating hydrogen atoms from water using renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar.)

Matt Kelso, manager of data and technology at the non-profit environmental watchdog FracTracker Alliance sees the investment in hydrogen as “an extension of the existing polluting industries, by the exact same companies that are polluting our air, land, and water today.”

“It is an excuse to keep drilling, obfuscated under a new identity, in an environment where there is increasing awareness of the damages that oil and gas extraction has caused to the region,” said Kelso, who lives in Pittsburgh, near southwest Pennsylvania’s oil and gas hub.

The plan will capitalize on the region’s natural gas stores, largely trapped in the Marcellus Shale geologic formation, untapped during the fracking boom of the early 2010s. The technique, which involves thrusting drilling fluid deep into rock formations, first vertically, then horizontally, to reach gaps in which natural gas is stored and release it. At the time, fracking promised to resuscitate the oil and gas industry, bringing an economic renaissance to the region.

In reality, these plans didn’t pan out: Actual job numbers paled in comparison to those promised. A 2021 economic analysis by the non-profit think tank Ohio River Valley Institute found that jobs in Appalachian fracking counties climbed by merely 1.6 percent in the 2010s, compared to the 450,000 jobs that industry estimates from the early 2010s laid out. It also led to an oversupply of natural gas that the industry is now trying to offload (most notably by pushing plastics).

The companies are positioning the move as an environmentally-sound one, or a way to achieve “aggressive net zero carbon goals,” Bill Newsom, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Power said in a press release. In fact, the fossil fuel industry more broadly has rallied around using carbon capture and sequestration as a technique to eliminate emissions from steam-methane reforming in the hydrogen production process.

These emissions are substantial. An August, 2021 report out of Cornell and Stanford Universities found that the carbon footprint that comes with creating blue hydrogen is 20 percent larger than that of burning natural gas and coal for heat and 60 percent greater than burning diesel oil for the same purpose.

Thus, carbon capture and storage — in which carbon dioxide is collected at the source of emissions and shot underground into stores — is essential to the fossil fuel companies’ plan if it is to be ‘net zero.’ But CCS comes with its own set of risks; pipelines carrying captured carbon have, in the past, exploded, and in the Marcellus Shale, where oil and gas wells, many abandoned, dot the landscape, shooting it underground could prove geologically risky — pressure from two wells interacting could lead to explosions.

Though the nuances of the ‘blue hydrogen hub’ plan remain opaque, and it is not clear how close any of these corporations are to receiving the permits required to see it through, they have a topline goal to generate “thousands of new jobs” and “protect current jobs,” per the release on the hub.

Matt Kelso remains dubious of this claim. “Based on the past actions of the industry, I would be highly skeptical with whatever figure they put forth,” he said, citing a Shell ethane cracker plant in Pennsylvania that was touted as generating 17,000 jobs but actually created 600. “The economic promises were knowingly inflated by several orders of magnitude, which undoubtedly helped secure better state investment offers,” he said of the project.

Even so, much of the landscape of Appalachia has yet to be reclaimed from already-dying industries; abandoned coal mines continue to leach into waterways and abandoned oil wells sit uncapped, leaking planet-warming methane all the while. The quick shift to a new energy form begs the question of whether a region is ready for a new wild west era, as the remnants of old ones have yet to be cleaned up.