Background: On Monday, May 16th, Governor Tom Wolf announced an effort to seek taxpayer dollars to expand fossil fuel infrastructure in Pennsylvania with a hydrogen hub and carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technologies. The potential funding comes as a result of oil and gas lobbying for its inclusion in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure bill. But carbon sequestration technologies require large scale deployment to positively impact climate, and hydrogen derived from fossil gas is far from ‘clean’ as it presents significant climate and health dangers, driving new methane, carbon dioxide and other emissions as well as a massive new market for fracked gas, just when scientists tell us it is most urgent to dramatically scale back our consumption of fossil fuels.
Statement from Anaïs Peterson, Petrochemicals Campaigner:
“The Governor’s proposal is directly at odds with climate science, which makes clear that we must stop expanding fossil fuels and quickly transition to renewable energy if we are to avoid climate catastrophe.
“A hydrogen hub powered by fossil fuels is another free pass to the oil and gas industry to continue extraction at the expense of Pennsylvanians’ health and wellbeing. Communities are immediately harmed and the climate crisis worsened by extraction happening right now. This decision will not just harm Pennsylvania now but the Ohio River Valley and our global climate for years to come.
“Governor Wolf’s decision to promote false solution is once again choosing the fossil fuel industry over Pennsylvanians’ health, economy, and environment. This is not the climate leadership Pennsylvania deserves.”
