DUNBAR, W.Va. — Underneath a dark, star-lit sky, chants rang out across the lawn of West Virginia State University: “No dirty hydrogen, we won’t pay with our health again.”
Environmental activists held a rally on Nov. 7 outside of the Appalachian Regional Hydrogen Hub’s Southern West Virginia open house to protest the hub and demand more public involvement in the project.
The ARCH 2 hub, which will span West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and eastern Kentucky, received $925 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to produce “clean” natural gas-based hydrogen using a variety of infrastructure like pipelines, power plants and underground storage sites.
It’s part of the Biden Administration’s plans to invest in clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project was one of seven selected for a combined $7 billion in federal funding last October. Yet, over a year later, scant information has been released on the specifics of the ARCH 2 project.
The open house, one of three planned across the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, presented activists and residents with their first opportunity to get long-held questions answered. Morgan King, one of the rally organizers, said activists got to ask questions but it was clear ARCH 2 organizers didn’t want public input.
“I hope it’s the start of more conversations with the developers, but to me it felt like a large propaganda event,” said King, climate and energy program manager at West Virginia Citizen Action.
ARCH 2 open house
The open house featured several stations where attendees could learn more information on the project, including a full list of involved partners like EQT, Battelle, CNX, Hope Gas, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and more.
OCED and Hope Gas had tables set up explaining their involvement in the project, while the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey staff demonstrated an experiment on how carbon capture and sequestration works and answered questions on the process. CCS, also known as Class VI wells, is the process of injecting carbon into the ground to reduce carbon emissions.
ARCH 2 leaders like Shawn Bennett, energy and resilience division manager for Battelle, were also present to answer specific questions on how a hydrogen hub works. Bennett said the open house aimed at answering questions and clearing the air on safety concerns.
“We wanted a chance to educate what this opportunity is, what ARCH 2 is and then hear any questions they have regarding what is hydrogen,” Bennett said. “We are trying to create that open dialogue with communities.”
ARCH 2 received its first tranche of money — $30 million — in July after completing negotiations with the Department of Energy. The money will go toward the project’s first phase which will consist of preliminary planning and development.
ARCH 2 organizers plan to hold two more open houses in Ohio and Pennsylvania next year; the dates are yet to be determined.
ARCH 2 rally and concerns
The rally, organized by West Virginia Citizen Action and attended by other Appalachian environmental groups like the Ohio River Valley Institute, West Virginia Rivers Coalition and Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action, took place before the open house. Activists gathered to protest the lack of transparency in ARCH 2 negotiations.
The activists want ARCH 2 leaders to disclose site locations and necessary infrastructure and operations, as well as work with community members to develop an effective engagement structure. Information about locations and infrastructure remains unclear, even after the first open house.
The U.S. Department of Energy previously hosted two listening sessions for residents and activists to ask questions, but a letter sent by ORVI in May states the listening sessions have been one-sided, and questions were not answered.
A spokesperson from ARCH 2 previously told Farm and Dairy that community members will get “ample opportunity to shape our projects in ways that benefit all stakeholders while creating opportunity for the region.” He added the information activists want is still being determined.
The rally called upon leaders to halt the project and choose a different path for clean energy in Appalachia.
Maury Johnson, a retired farmer from Monroe County, West Virginia, was one of the speakers at the rally who called upon leaders to reenvision a clean, fossil fuel-less future for the next generation. He said his children have moved out of state because “there’s no future for them here.”
“We need a future for our children,” he said. “I’ve seen too many students leave this state because of everything going on in fossil fuels. Chemicals is not a solution.”
Johnson got involved in environmental activism after, he said, his water well was contaminated by sediment and chemical fertilizers used during the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Johnson has used organic practices on his farm since 1993.
Johnson and his nephew used to raise cows, sheep and horses and farm hay, corn, pumpkins and vegetables. Since the Mountain Valley Pipeline was put in, he grows a garden and his neighbors continue to raise cows and grow hay on a portion of the property. He is afraid one day the pipeline could explode.
According to Johnson, the infrastructure for ARCH 2 is also dangerous, particularly CO2 pipelines that will transport carbon dioxide to carbon capture and sequestration sites, also known as Class VI wells.
He points to an incident that took place in Satartia, Mississippi, in February 2020 where a pipeline transporting carbon dioxide to an oil well exploded. According to federal regulators, the pipeline ruptured after weeks and months of rain causing the uneven ground to shift. The carbon dioxide, which is an odorless and colorless gas, left several residents unconscious and others with lasting respiratory and cognitive problems.
The U.S. currently has 5,000 miles of CO2 pipelines in southern Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi and Louisana; thousands more will be needed to connect the seven proposed regional hydrogen hubs.
Activists also say there hasn’t been enough research done on CCS wells, and the limited research available already shows problems. Two CCS projects were installed in Norway in 1996 and 2008, which, after a few years, saw CO2 quickly migrating to zones not intended for storage, despite studies and prior analysis for suitable rock formations.
Abandoned orphan wells in Appalachia could also pose a unique problem for the region and CCS storage. When left unplugged, orphan wells can leak harmful substances from the ground into the environment.
According to state agencies, Ohio has 20,000 orphan wells, Pennsylvania has 27,000 and West Virginia has 6,000, but some estimates put this number even higher.
At the open house, Philip Dinterman, deputy director for West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, said orphan wells are a huge concern for CCS development in the area as they could leak carbon dioxide. However, developers are expected to survey the area and locate and plug orphan wells before a CCS project is installed.
He adds that WVGES has been mapping the locations of known orphan wells in West Virginia, which is available on its website, https://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
