West Virginia Legislative Leadership Joins West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Representative David McKinley (R-WV) and Governor Jim Justice (R-WV) welcomed Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, President of the Senate Craig Blair, Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin and House Minority Leader Doug Skaff to the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition. Photos of the signing can be found here.

 

“Today the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition welcomed members of the West Virginia Legislative leadership into the Coalition. As we work together to become the new home of a hydrogen hub funded by our bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we are thrilled to have the West Virginia Legislative leadership join us in our efforts,” said Chairman Manchin. “With our abundant energy sources and strong partnerships, our state is uniquely situated to compete to develop a hydrogen hub. Our proposal showcases how West Virginia can continue to lead the country – and the world – in advancing energy technologies and bring good-paying jobs to the state. We will continue to work with stakeholders across West Virginia to bring a hydrogen hub to the Mountain State.”

 

“Today’s announcement demonstrates yet another example of why our state is so well-suited to house a hydrogen hub, and that is our unity,” Senator Capito said. “West Virginia’s leaders – Democrat and Republican – are united around the potential we know is ready to be unleashed right here in our state when it comes to investing in and developing a hydrogen hub. I welcome Speaker Hanshaw, Senate President Blair, Minority Leader Baldwin, and Minority Leader Skaff to our Hydrogen Hub Working Group, and am looking forward to continuing our work that began with the passage of our bipartisan infrastructure bill and will hopefully lead to accomplishing our goal of creating jobs and transforming communities in West Virginia.”

 

“Our state’s elected leaders will play an integral role as members of the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition. Their knowledge of local and statewide issues, combined with a strong commitment to the success of our state, will allow West Virginia, and the surrounding region, to be a frontrunner for a regional hydrogen hub,” said Representative McKinley. “The Infrastructure Bill has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to modernize infrastructure that will support a regional hydrogen hub.  Which means West Virginia, one of the country’s largest coal, gas and oil producers, can lead an all-of-the-above energy strategy that leverages the State’s existing resources while developing next generation technologies that support good jobs and energy security for the U.S. into the future.”

 

“I am happy to welcome our Legislative leadership to the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: goodness for West Virginia. And it’s clear that landing this hydrogen hub would take our state to heights that we’ve never seen before. That’s something we can all get behind,” said Governor Justice. “By pulling the rope together, we will demonstrate what West Virginians are capable of when we put our heads together to work toward a common goal. We will do everything in our collective power to prove that our state’s abundant resources, combined with a workforce possessing generations of expertise in the energy industry, makes West Virginia the best-suited place in the nation to unlock the full potential of this hydrogen hub and shepherd America toward an era of energy independence.”

 

“We are creating a new economy here in West Virginia, and we stand ready to do what we can to be sure the state is attractive to this project as well as many others,” said West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. “We are providing options to meet the global economy’s demands, and I’m pleased to see our state in the running for the kinds of economic developments that will create generational change.”

 

“West Virginia is an energy state, and as we look to expand our strategy and portfolio into the next generation, I look forward to us being leaders in energy technology,” Senate President Blair said. “I am proud to support the development of a hydrogen hub in West Virginia.”

 

“West Virginia has historically been an energy state. For the sake of our future, we need to be a more diverse and cleaner energy state. Expanding the hydrogen market here would allow us to create jobs, produce energy for our own citizens to use, and build a more sustainable economy,” said Senate Minority Leader Baldwin.

 

“West Virginia has a long history of powering this country and bringing a hydrogen hub to the Mountain State will allow our hard-working families to be a part of powering our great nation far into the future. I am thrilled to join my colleagues in leading the world in innovative energy technology and, most importantly, new employment opportunities in this industry,” said House Minority Leader Skaff.

 

On March 21^st, 2022, Senators Manchin and Capito, Representative McKinley and Governor Justice submitted the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition’s official response to DOE’s first step in the process to select winning hydrogen hubs funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

 

On February 15^th, 2022, Senators Manchin and Capito, Representative McKinley and Governor Justice announced the launch of the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition to collaborate and support a strong West Virginia candidate to be chosen to develop a hydrogen hub, funded through $9.5 billion allocated to the U.S. Department of Energy by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

 

On February 25^th, 2022, Senators Manchin and Capito, Representative McKinley and Governor Justice convened the initial organizing meeting of the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition.

The recently passed bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $9.5 billion for hydrogen, including $8 billion for Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs that will jumpstart the production, transport, and use of clean hydrogen across the U.S. economy; $1 billion for a Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program to reduce costs of hydrogen produced from clean electricity; and $500 million for Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling initiatives to support equipment manufacturing and strong domestic supply chains. The legislation also requires one hub be located in Appalachia as the largest natural gas producing region.

 

DOE previously announced two Requests for Information (RFI) to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Regional Hydrogen Hub and the Electrolysis and Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Programs. This is the first step in the clean hydrogen hub selection process. Details can be found here.