The Biden administration has announced plans to build regional hydrogen hubs across the country in his search to eliminate carbon and similar gas. He wants to demonstrate the productions, storage, transport and consumption of clean hydrogen made with less than half the carbon emissions associated with natural gas-derived production of the fuel. The hubs are funded with $8 billion from the 2021 infrastructure law and expected to produce 10 million tons of clean hydrogen annually by 2030.
However, the hydrogen hubs are not without controversy. Many environmental groups and activists are wary that publicly funded hubs could still emit significant amounts of greenhouse gasses, endanger residents when hydrogen is stored or transported, suck up scores of water resources, prolong the burning of natural gas, or release the viability and affordability of clean hydrogen compared to other energy options.
And the companies building, operating and other sources of support or use will be offered 20 years of tax credits to use in any area of production that are in. So the funding for the tax credits will be on the users and will most likely see higher cost in our electric bill and production costs.
They will be closing Centralia’s coal-powered TransAlta plant to two or three years. The ratepayers still haven’t heard or had a chance to voice concerns in the last year? The hubs were under consideration for a year with the college and Centralia, all with no input from residents. That’s a heck of a way to run a comprehensive plan.
Richard Yrjanson
Centralia
