By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s state legislative leaders have joined their federal counterparts in pursuing an in-state hydrogen hub that would be funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
A coalition formed by a majority of West Virginia’s congressional leaders and Gov. Jim Justice to back West Virginia in a competition for a federally funded hydrogen hub now includes state Senate and House leadership.
The Mountain State is all in, despite concern that regional hydrogen hubs planned by the White House to decarbonize the industrial sector will waste taxpayer subsidies instead, by using uneconomic technologies and failing to slash carbon dioxide emissions.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act enacted in November and supported by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., allots $8 billion for regional hydrogen hubs to expand industrial use of hydrogen…