SALEM, Ohio — A regional hydrogen hub is slated to bring thousands of jobs to the tri-state area while reducing carbon emissions and creating energy for the grid.
The hydrogen economy “will decarbonize the region, bring jobs and new opportunities to Appalachia ” said Shawn Bennett, energy and resilience division manager at Battelle — a major partner of the ARCH 2 hub. Bennett testified at a recent Pennsylvania House committee hearing on Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub.
The proposed benefits, however, may be too good to be true, according to researchers and scientists who also testified at the June 17 hearing. The environmental benefits are not as clear-cut as promised, and the economic benefits have been inflated, they said.
The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, also known as ARCH 2, will consist of a host of different infrastructures like pipelines, power plants and underground storage sites, spanning West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and eastern Kentucky to produce “clean” natural gas-based hydrogen.
How exactly all of this will happen is still unclear as details of the project are scant.
Background
The Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, led by Democratic state Rep. Greg Vitali, held the hearing to discuss how the hydrogen hub will address climate change.
Vitali, of Delaware County, reminded the committee that the economic benefits of the hydrogen hub are secondary to its environmental goals.
“It’s important for elected officials to resist those political pressures, keep their eye on the ball because climate change is an enormous problem,” Vitali said.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s hydrogen hub projects are part of the Biden Administration’s new plans toward investing in clean energy and reducing carbon emissions. Last fall, the DOE announced that $7 billion in funding will go to support the construction of seven proposed hydrogen hubs across the country.
The ARCH 2 hydrogen hub will mostly consist of blue hydrogen — derived from natural gas using a process of carbon capture and sequestration to reduce carbon emission. CCS injects carbon into the ground and is essential for this process to be clean. A portion of ARCH 2 will also consist of green hydrogen — made from water, also called electrolysis.
Most speakers opposed ARCH 2’s plans for a fossil fuel-based hydrogen hub and recommended investing in clean energy-based hydrogen instead. Other speakers discussed the proposed economic benefits of the hub and the need for thorough regulations.
Economic promises
The ARCH 2 hub is anticipated to reduce 9 million metric tons of CO2 annually and bring 21,000 jobs to the region, according to the DOE. Bennett says the ARCH 2 hub will create 10,000 construction jobs.
In addition to the direct jobs, Bennett said the economic investment will boost local businesses in areas around the hub infrastructure. The hub will consist of 14 different projects across the tri-state area.
Of those jobs, however, only 3,000 are expected to be permanent, said Sean O’Leary, senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, citing DOE stats on the project.
The reduction in carbon emissions is also not as significant as it sounds: “But it doesn’t even offset the emissions of one coal-fired power plant,” O’Leary said. “It’s less than 2% of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania emissions.”
Bennett did not provide any new information about the hub, which has been a concern for residents and local environmental groups in recent months. He asked communities to be patient as ARCH 2 negotiations continue.
Regulation
The ARCH 2 project and other hydrogen hubs rely on tax breaks from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. The 45V Tax Credit incentivizes the production of clean energy using hydrogen.
It is one of the biggest proposed clean hydrogen tax credits in the world, and in U.S. history, said Danny Cullenward, climate economist and lawyer and a senior fellow with the Climate Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Because of the large amount of money going toward the hubs, he urges the importance of policies that do not include pollution loopholes like methane offsets, which Cullenward calls a “pollution shifting exercise” or “a way of saying my pollution doesn’t count because someone somewhere else cleaned up their pollution.”
Blue vs green hydrogen
Appalachia is seen as an ideal spot for ARCH 2 because of the region’s abundant natural gas reserves. However, environmental advocates who testified at the hearing said blue hydrogen, even with carbon capture and sequestration, is not clean. Green hydrogen is a cleaner option to produce energy while reducing carbon emissions, although, it’s not perfect.
Producing green hydrogen is more energy-intensive than fossil fuel-based hydrogen. For it to be truly clean from start to finish, the electricity powering the hub must also be clean.
For fossil-fuel-based hydrogen to be considered clean, the practice of carbon capture and sequestration is required. However, those opposed to the ARCH 2 project raised concerns that CCS has never been successfully practiced.
Bennett states Battelle has over two decades of experience in carbon sequestration. On Battelle’s website, the company said it has completed 75 plus CCS projects — also known as Class VI wells — worldwide.
According to U.S. EPA data, there are only seven active Class VI wells in the United States, the majority of which are in North Dakota. Of the seven active wells, only two wells are in the injection phase. No Class VI wells currently exist in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
