The Public Health Concern Over California’s Hydrogen Hubs Explained

This article was originally published by Public Health Watch, a nonprofit investigative news organization. Find out more at publichealthwatch.org.

Billions of dollars in federal money are flowing to seven “hydrogen hubs” around the country — including in California. A public-private partnership called ARCHES recently negotiated a $1.2 billion agreement with the Department of Energy to build out hydrogen power plants, pipelines and other energy projects around the state.

Federal and state officials are celebrating the award, part of a risky and ambitious national bet on a potentially clean fuel that could someday rival renewables and cut carbon from the atmosphere. Backed by pots of money created by federal laws, California and six other hubs will serve as regional nerve centers, steering hydrogen-producing projects that can qualify for an uncapped federal tax credit – anticipated to be worth at least a hundred billion dollars.

However, producing hydrogen energy can be expensive and complicated, and if that process relies on fossil fuels, it could actually prolong climate pollution. When even clean hydrogen is blended with methane and burned, it can still dirty the air with toxic byproducts that contribute to lung-irritating smog.

Researchers and local advocates warn that unless the so-called hydrogen earthshot has adequate safeguards, it could harm health and climate – even in California, a state that has declared a commitment not only to ambitious climate goals but also to environmental justice.

“The people got left behind in this conversation,” said Fatima Abdul-Khabir, the Energy Equity Program manager at Oakland-based Greenlining Institute, an advocacy group. “It’s a massive step backwards.”

Founded by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-BIZ), the University of California, the state building and trades unions and a nonprofit called Renewables 100, ARCHES says it aims to develop hydrogen sustainably. Federal funding, GO-BIZ’s Tyson Eckerle has said, is “the pebble that launches the avalanche.” Partners are working quickly: To qualify for the federal tax credit, shovels have to be in the ground by 2032.

However, little has been made public about ARCHES’ top projects, their locations, or their potential health impacts. To fully participate in the hub, partners – including utilities like PG&E, companies like Amazon, and fossil fuel giants like Chevron – had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Environmental advocates call it an “iron wall” and say that, as projects pop up in marginalized or already-polluted communities around the state, they’re playing “Whac-A-Mole” trying to keep up.

ARCHES also has rejected rules the federal government has proposed for the tax credit, a position directly contrary to that of experts who say the rules would guarantee that this huge investment leads to a sustainable hydrogen economy.

Clean hydrogen could be the angel of decarbonizing the energy sector, but Earthjustice analyst Sasan Saadat said poorly defined hydrogen could be the devil.

“The fossil fuel industry knows this, and they can blur the lines,” Saadat said.

So far, the message from ARCHES is: Trust California to do what is right with the $1.2 billion it has been awarded for its hub.

“There’s reason to trust California,” said Dan Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “But only if California continues to follow the rules that California created.”

Read the full report here: As California Hydrogen Hubs Receive Billions, Public Health Concerns Grow.