Written Testimony

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) argues that low-carbon hydrogen is essential for decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors like heavy industry and long-haul transport. In Pennsylvania, the MACH2 and ARCH2 hubs represent diverse production strategies—renewable/nuclear and natural gas reforming, respectively. CATF emphasizes that for hydrogen to be truly climate-beneficial, electrolytic production must follow 'three pillars' of additionality, geography-matching, and temporal-matching, while fossil-based production requires high carbon capture rates and minimized methane leaks. The document highlights Pennsylvania's significant geologic storage potential for carbon capture but notes a lack of public subsurface data. It recommends greater transparency, inter-hub coordination, and deeper community engagement to maximize the program's climate and social benefits.

• Low-carbon hydrogen is critical for decarbonizing sectors where electrification is not cost-effective or energy-efficient, specifically 'first order priority' sectors including crude oil refining, petrochemicals, ammonia production, methanol production, and steel manufacturing.
• To ensure electrolytic hydrogen is truly clean and avoids increasing grid emissions, CATF advocates for 'three pillars': additionality (electricity must be additional to existing low-carbon supply), geography-matching (electricity and electrolyzers must be in the same region), and temporal-matching (hourly matching of consumption and generation).
• Pennsylvania is well-positioned for 'blue' hydrogen production due to its natural gas resources, provided that methane leaks are minimized and high rates of carbon capture are achieved. The state's saline storage potential is estimated at 17.34 gigatonnes, though commercial viability is hindered by a lack of publicly available subsurface data for deep saline formations.
• The two selected Pennsylvania hubs utilize different primary production strategies: MACH2 focuses on renewable and nuclear sources (projected at 77% renewable, 20% nuclear, and 3% biogas), while ARCH2 is primarily natural gas-based.
• The Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program is expected to reduce 25 MMT of greenhouse gas emissions annually and create tens of thousands of jobs, including requirements for prevailing wages and apprenticeships for those receiving federal tax credits.
• CATF identifies gaps in the current hub plans for Pennsylvania, noting that neither hub has announced plans to decarbonize the state's large-emitting steel sector, and MACH2 includes power generation, which CATF considers a 'niche application' that could delay grid decarbonization.

APA

Bailey, S. (2023). Written Testimony. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/14090542/testimony-pa-hydrogen-hubs-hearing.pdf

Chicago

Bailey, Sam. Written Testimony. Clean Air Task Force, 2023. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/14090542/testimony-pa-hydrogen-hubs-hearing.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Bailey |first1=Sam |title=Written Testimony |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=13 November 2023 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/14090542/testimony-pa-hydrogen-hubs-hearing.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{bailey2023written, author = {Bailey, Sam}, title = {{Written Testimony}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/14090542/testimony-pa-hydrogen-hubs-hearing.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }