Media reports indicate that the Department of Energy has completed its programwide review of various agency-supported initiatives, including the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, which has been designated ‘retain/modify’. In response, Ohio River Valley Institute Chief of Staff Tom Torres issued the following statement:
While no details have been shared regarding what this designation means, the prospect of any more public resources being spent on the Appalachian hydrogen hub is preposterous.
The hydrogen hub has had to contend with a significant cut to the hydrogen tax credit, threats of cancellation last fall, a missed deadline for the release of the hub’s draft Environmental Impact Statement, and the termination of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, the part of the Department of Energy charged with managing the hub program. Elsewhere in the country, numerous proposed natural gas-powered hydrogen facilities have either been cancelled or suspended.
Prospective developers are likely to be discouraged by this downturn and the administration’s continued indifference towards hydrogen technology. However, these political setbacks can distract from a more fundamental truth.
Since the hub was first announced in 2023, five development partners have left, including CNX, one of the three primary hydrogen producers in ARCH2. Of the two remaining primary producers, EQT is still evaluating its hub project and Fidelis recently asked West Virginia regulators to suspend review of a requested air permit for its hydrogen facility in Mason County. A fourth producer, KeyState, has yet to secure enough funding to make a final investment decision and has also pushed back its operational date by five years. The remaining producers, including the struggling Empire Diversified, would likely be responsible for a negligible amount of hydrogen.
These developments all point to the core challenge facing ARCH2: the developers driving the hub need to overcome the serious insufficient demand for hydrogen and high costs in order to get a foothold in most of the sectors these projects were targeting.
Our region’s leaders made the wrong decision when they championed this proposal. Now, years later, they have the rare opportunity to correct their mistakes. While nearly a billion dollars was allocated to the hydrogen hub, only half a percent of this funding has actually been spent. There’s still time to avoid losing any more public dollars to this dirty, costly project. ARCH2 is on its last legs. It’s time our politicians acknowledged this.
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