MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — A band of residents and environmental activists in this part of Appalachia are rallying against a billion-dollar federal plan that’s at the center of President Joe Biden’s push to slash emissions with “clean” hydrogen.
The sprawling hydrogen hub known as ARCH2 plans to produce low-carbon fuel that could help clean up the dirtiest parts of the economy, from steelmaking to commercial trucking. But it aims to do that mainly by using one of the fossil fuels driving climate change.
The hub would use natural gas with carbon capture to make “blue” hydrogen — in a region that has long hosted industrial pollution tied to coal and hydraulic fracturing to extract gas.
“What this hub does is further normalize fracking,” said Lois Bower-Bjornson, a community organizer and resident of Washington County, Pennsylvania. The county, which is about 35 miles from the hub’s base, is one of the most heavily fracked areas in the state.
