Some industry workers are excited about a $22.2 million investment into the Midwest Hydrogen Hub, but environmental activists are worried about what it means for Northwest Indiana’s future.
The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, or MachH2, and the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday announced an agreement for the Phase 1 award status through the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
As part of the award status, the hub will receive $22.2 million in initial federal funding. The hub could receive up to $1 billion as the project continues.
“Federal investment in hydrogen hubs represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to significantly reduce emissions from hard-to-carbonize industries, create new clean energy jobs, clean our air and invest in historically overburdened communities,” Dorothy Davidson, CEO of MachH2, said in a news release. “By moving into Phase 1 with $22.2 million in federal funding, MachH2 will help accelerate the clean hydrogen economy, and we’re looking forward to working with communities throughout the Midwest to deliver the benefits of a clean energy future.”
MachH2 will service Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, and will ship about 23 million tons of carbon dioxide and other byproducts through pipelines starting in Lake County and stretching five counties south, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Energy firms BP and NiSource, steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs and Purdue University Northwest are the hub’s partners.
Randy Palmateer, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, said he’s excited about the $22.2 million toward the hub.
Palmateer has been involved with the hub since its inception, he said Friday. He expects that the hub will create between 15,000 and 20,000 construction jobs.
“This is a huge project for Northwest Indiana,” Palmateer said. “We’ve been taking in 20-30% more volume of apprentices to cover these jobs.”
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a statement that the federal funds for the hub and partnership with the BP Whiting Refinery is an immeasurable benefit for the region’s economy and environment.
“I have no doubt that the funding will continue to encourage private sector financial investments in reducing carbon emissions and generating hydrogen power, which will protect the manufacturing jobs of today and create new economic opportunities for the coming generations,” Mrvan’s statement said.
MachH2 will create blue hydrogen via fracked gas, which environmental activists argue isn’t as environmentally friendly as the hub says.
Lauren Piette, senior associate attorney for EarthJustice’s clean energy program, said the hydrogen hub will create blue, green and pink hydrogen. Blue hydrogen will be produced at the BP Whiting Refinery.
Green hydrogen is the only form that is truly clean, Piette said. Since blue hydrogen relies on methane or fossil fuels, companies can’t claim that is truly clean, she added.
“We do not see any role for blue hydrogen or hydrogen that relies on methane or fossil fuels as a feedstock,” Piette said. “So from our perspective, blue hydrogen projects are dirty, and they are absolutely a false solution to our climate crisis.”
Environmental activists and community members are worried about the hub because they feel MachH2 officials haven’t been transparent about its effects, Piette said.
Susan Thomas, legislative and policy director for Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said activists from the organization met with the DOE on Monday to discuss the hub. Just Transition on Nov. 16 hosted a rally to protest the hub.
After meeting with the DOE, Thomas said they still had questions about the project that were left unanswered. Just Transition knew an announcement was forthcoming, Thomas said, but she didn’t think it would be as sudden.
“They said (the announcement would come) within a couple of days,” she added. “I think what they should have said was that it would come within a couple minutes, because within seven minutes of ending our call, the announcement dropped.”
Just Transition’s main concern with the hub is that it’s going to create blue hydrogen. Thomas believes industries should shift to green hydrogen, but they should perfect it first so it can be used effectively.
“Using fossil fuels to produce hydrogen does not serve anybody,” Thomas said. “That just makes the climate problem worse, and it’s not reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Many sectors that are difficult to decarbonize can’t reduce emissions through electrification, a MachH2 spokesperson said in an email. Some of the hardest sectors to decarbonize are aviation, shipping, trucking, and steelmaking.
Although there will be a change in presidential administrations in January, a MachH2 spokesperson said in a statement that the incoming Trump presidency shouldn’t impact the hub’s funding.
The hydrogen hub has strong bipartisan support, the spokesperson said in an email.
“This strong bipartisan support is evidenced by the enthusiasm and commitment to MachH2 from the governors of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan — states that understand that a robust clean hydrogen industry will grow local and regional economies sustainably into the future,” the statement said.
Many people are trying to figure out what’s coming next, Piette said, especially with MachH2 funding. At the end of the first 18-month period, the DOE could choose to not fund the hub more, Piette said.
Piette is unsure what will happen with the project once the Trump administration comes into power. It’s important to continue having conversations and making concerns known, Piette said, no matter who is in office.
“We have been raising concerns about the lack of transparency and community engagement for over a year now,” she said. “I think it’s really important for community members and other advocates to make sure that the new administration knows frontline communities are watching. They’re going to continue to make clear that they don’t want their tax dollars going toward dirty hydrogen projects that are going to harm their families and our climate.”
Thomas expects the MachH2 project will continue to receive funding throughout the Trump administration because she thinks it benefits big oil and gas companies.
“This is not environmental justice,” she said. “This is not a community conversation, so I suspect the plan will go ahead without even the premise that this is involved because it benefits big oil and gas.”
Although the hub has received funding, Just Transition doesn’t plan to stop raising awareness for the negative impacts. The group will continue having sessions to educate people about the hydrogen hub, Thomas said.
“We will be staying on top of this with some support from tremendous allies in the process,” Thomas said. “We’ll see where we go from here in light of the election results and what else might be coming down the pike.”
