By Esteban Fernandez
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — The Hydrogen Hub isn’t dead, but it does have some work to do, according to U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.
“If you want me to just tell you, just straight up the truth, there’s factions that believe this won’t work and there’s factions that believe this is the reality of the future and everything,” Justice said. “Just to tell it like it is in West Virginia language, you absolutely have got to show me. Show me that it is for real and it absolutely performs and will work.”
Justice said if proponents of the Hydrogen Hub can show the technology works, he and his senior counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., will support it.
The Biden administration funneled $1 billion into clean energy sources that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including hydrogen. Hog Lick Aggregates, one of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub’s partners, is working to develop a clean fuel system school in White Hall, as well as future maintenance infrastructure for hydrogen engines as well as a potential storage depot. However, the Trump administration has been cutting money for clean fuel development programs. While the Appalachian project hasn’t been affected yet, Trump rescinded $2.2 billion for two other hydrogen hubs last year.
In October, a list from the Department of Energy identified 600 energy grants for termination, including ARCH2, the Appalachian hub. Sen. Capito said in January that the Hydrogen Hub will come to fruition, but that the market for hydrogen is moving slower than expected.
“We can’t build a hub unless we have somebody to sell Hydrogen to,” she said to WV MetroNews on Jan. 18.
Both the Trump administration and state Republicans have shown a large appetite for exploiting more of the state’s carbon and natural gas resources. Justice foresees an “energy meltdown” due to demand from data centers and AI.
“We’re going to end up with a decision to make that could be horrible, and that is, decide, are you going to look after our households, from the standpoint of keeping them warm in the winter and cool in the summer, or are you going to look after and move to the opportunity of jobs and AI,” he said.
According to Forbes, data centers do not serve as permanent and ongoing job creation engines. Some economists also see signs of an AI bubble, one which may burst.
Brian Redmond, president of Hog Lick Aggregates, agreed with Sen. Justice about the need for Hydrogen to prove itself.
“I think it can work, because we make hydrogen out of natural gas in West Virginia and places around the county,” he said. “It may not work, but because we have such an abundant supply of natural gas here locally, we can make it. We can make blue hydrogen as cheap as anybody in the natural gas space. Blue hydrogen is probably the most cost competitive hydrogen.”
Redmond said natural gas and coal are having their day, due to the tremendous power needs created by data centers. West Virginia is well positioned to meet that need, he said. But the state can also leverage that to build power plants here too, so that the state can take advantage of the infrastructure investment that’s going into the AI boom.
“That’s West Virginia’s big objective,” he said. “If we can accomplish that, it’s really going to set West Virginia up as kind of the powerhouse of the United States.”
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