Mind-Numbed PA Dems Seek to Block NatGas Used for Hydrogen Hubs
Being reasonable and seeking compromise and the middle ground exited American politics about a decade ago. Maybe 20 years ago. What we have today, at least on the left of the political spectrum, is “my way or the highway.” Tyranny. It is the very definition of unreasonableness. Here is a perfect example: Yesterday, the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, chaired by Democrat Rep. Greg Vitali (a Marcellus shale hater), held a hearing on Hydrogen Hubs and Climate Change. The name of the hearing says it all. Vitali paraded mind-numbed robots (“we hate fossil fuels, we hate fossil fuels”) from radicalized organizations like Earthjustice to testify before the hearing. The stupidity on display was breathtaking.
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Last Friday, MDN told you about a problem brewing that will block new hydrogen projects from getting built in the Marcellus/Utica (see 
For months, MDN has told you about a problem brewing that will block new hydrogen projects from getting built in the Marcellus/Utica. It’s an obscure tax rule known as the 45V tax credit, part of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Bidenistas at the White House, Treasury Department, and Dept. of Energy proposed a new IRS rule in late December that the 45V tax credits (as provided for in the IRA) can only be used if the hydrogen produced is “green” — meaning NOT made from natural gas. In addition, the electricity used to produce the hydrogen can’t come from fossil fuel sources like natural gas (if you want the tax credit). Biden kneecapped the hydrogen hub projects in the M-U (see 
Natural gas utility Peoples Natural Gas (headquartered in Pittsburgh) is working with Pittsburgh startup company H Quest and the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering to test new technology from H Quest that microwaves natural gas (CH4), turning it into clean hydrogen (H2) and carbon black. No carbon dioxide (CO2) is released in the process. The H Quest tech is housed in what looks like a tractor-trailer container unit that is powerful enough to “decarbonize more than 1,000 residential households in one go.”
Anti-fossil fuelers can’t protest specific projects that are part of the ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) initiative because the projects are still being fleshed out. There aren’t any specifics yet to share, which makes antis mad. As soon as they know what projects are planned, they will use considerable sums of money (from dubious sources) to try and defeat, block, and oppose those projects because they irrationally hate natural gas, which will be the feedstock used in ARCH2.
It’s kind of interesting to watch how the left operates. Especially the left’s favored mouthpieces that pretend to be objective news media when, in fact, it is the opposite — they are partisan hacks serving the extremist wing of the Democrat Party. We’re referring to the “news” outlet Capital & Main, a hard-left propaganda outfit based in California. Their latest attack is against CNX Resources’ Vice President of External Relations, Brian Aiello. A recent Capital & Main article refers to Aiello, who is in upper management at CNX, as a “lobbyist” four different times to drive home and make stick an inaccurate label. It’s kind of funny, actually, coming from partisan hacks. We’re going to refer to C&M as partisan hacks a few more times, just to drive home the point. 🙂
Last December, WATT Fuel Cell Corp. signed a seven-year extension of its lease to keep its headquarters in Westmoreland County, PA (see 
More than 50 “groups” colluding with ringleader Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) sent a letter to the Department of Energy (DOE) calling for the suspension of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), falsely claiming an “extreme lack of transparency” and lack of “meaningful community engagement” during project negotiations. Translation: The ORVI and its band of fossil fuel bigots are mad because they don’t know exactly where to go to protest each element of the ARCH2 project. They want to bully local municipalities and politicians to block hosting any element of the multi-million-dollar project. How rude of the DOE not to make it easy for the ORVI.
Last week, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources Corp., KeyState Energy, and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are working together on a $1.5 billion project that, if completed, would make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at PIT from coal mine methane gas (see 
CNX Resources Corp., KeyState Energy, and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are working together on a $1.5 billion project that, if completed, would make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at PIT from coal mine methane gas. But only if the Bidenistas deeply embedded in the IRS allow coal mine methane to qualify for green energy tax credits. That’s a really big IF. CNX and KeyState announced yesterday that the two companies signed a letter of intent (non-binding for now) to build a SAF facility at PIT to turn coal mine methane into hydrogen that would be used as aviation fuel.
When the Bidenistas announced a $750 million “investment” of taxpayer money would flow to the Philadelphia region (actually Delaware and New Jersey, and a little bit of Philly) for a “green” hydrogen hub, wackadoodle antis pitched a fit (see 
The first known and recorded miracle performed by Jesus of Nazareth was when he changed 120 gallons of water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana, Galilee. A company in Denmark and a researcher from the University of Manchester (UK) recently published a paper in the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ SPE Journal that claims a similar miracle. They say using a special downhole completion tool, they can convert methane (natural gas) wells into hydrogen (H2) production wells. Wave the magic wand and say the secret phrase, presto magico!
Hydrogen has been hyped as a carbon-free fuel that will magically fix the nonexistent climate crisis. It will supposedly clean up “dirty” industries like Big Chemical and Big Steel. It will power our cars and trucks, farting out water instead of CO2. And, it will help the U.S. hit mythical net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — the artificial date by which Mom Earth will toast if we do nothing. Billions of dollars have been and are being poured into hydrogen, and whoops! Nothing is happening because (a) the Bidenistas refuse to allow tax credits for hydrogen made from natural gas, and (b) hydrogen is too expensive to create apart from natural gas.
Depending on who you talk to, hydrogen energy will either save the world or isn’t a big deal at all. When hydrogen burns, it’s completely “clean” — meaning it doesn’t emit any carbon dioxide. Hydrogen, when burned, creates water. What could be more clean and pure and holy than hydrogen energy? Yet the 800-pound gorilla in the room is that there isn’t a market for all of the new hydrogen scheduled to come online if the so-called regional hydrogen hubs being funded by Joementia actually take off. If you produce it (more hydrogen), they will come (and buy it)? That’s what Joe and the climate hucksters are saying. Here’s a better idea: Let’s look at who uses hydrogen the most now and why. And would they use more hydrogen if it was available at a reasonable cost?
Is hydrogen energy a solution in search of a problem? That’s the question that keeps running through our heads. In a free market, customers buy products from companies that manufacture them. If a company is producing a product for which there is no demand, that company doesn’t stay in business long. According to a journalist at last week’s CERAWeek energy event in Houston, TX, one of the “hot topics” at the event was “hydrogen’s demand dilemma” — as in, the customers don’t exist to buy it.
This one is too funny. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a leftist liberal Democrat and the chosen candidate of the environmental left, appeared at a Philadelphia union hall for a speech last week to tout a hydrogen hub that is supposedly coming to the area, called the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2). The MACH2 project is actually centered in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware but will give a few economic table scraps to the Philly area, which excites and titillates PA politicians. Early in Shapiro’s “ain’t hydrogen just great” speech, Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper (that’s what she calls herself), got up and began to shout down Shapiro. That’s right! The guy SHE voted for and helped elect! You see, Miss Maya (hereinafter to be called Mouthy Maya) doesn’t like hydrogen hubs, even “clean” hubs like the MACH2 project.