Southeast senators to convince Energy Department to approve hydrogen hub

Southeast senators have banded together to persuade the Energy Department to choose the area for a hydrogen hub project.

Senators. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spearheaded a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Thursday in which they argued that the area should be at least one of the four locations where DOE invests in a hydrogen build-out. The 2021 infrastructure law made the $8 billion scheme possible.

The lobbying occurs one month before the DOE’s deadline for applications from municipalities and regions hoping to get funds, a possibility that has sparked combative Capitol Hill posturing.

Senssignature .’s is one more. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Katie Britt (R-Ala.). A hydrogen center would add to the Southeast’s success with renewable energy.

Many green energy projects, including ones for factories making solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles, have been announced in the recent months. According to businesses, the incentives in the bicameral infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act had a crucial role in their decision-making.

A hydrogen hub program “presents a unique opportunity to improve the Southeast’s economy, strengthen U.S. energy independence, cut costs for individuals and companies, and continue to build the region as a leader in clean energy,” the legislators said.

Notwithstanding their support for hydrogen hubs, four of the Republican signatories to the letter—Blackburn, Scott, Hagerty, and Budd—voted against the infrastructure law that made hydrogen hubs possible. Britt didn’t serve in Congress. All Democrats backed the measure, as did Graham and Tillis.