![]() “They don’t want to send the wrong impression to the feds.” “I don’t think want anything done that could mess up their application,” Vitali said. Josh Shapiro’s administration had voiced similar concerns. Vitali said at least one Democratic House leader and two Democratic committee members urged him not to put the measure up for a vote because they worried it would be too politically difficult for members because the issue could conflict with labor interests. Vitali recently scheduled his committee to consider a bill that would impose stricter environmental standards on companies that take advantage of the state tax credit for hydrogen production by requiring them to adhere to emission caps and restrictions on where the hydrogen can be used.īut the bill never moved. “The tension in the hydrogen hub issue is that many people view this as just economic development, job creation,” Vitali told Spotlight PA. He’s one of the legislature’s most outspoken environmentalists, and he chairs the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. ![]() Greg Vitali (D., Delaware) belongs to that latter camp. But some Democrats in key positions argue the state also needs to put stricter guardrails on hydrogen production to ensure the new industry is actually environmentally friendly. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with support from the commonwealth’s powerful building trades unions, see hydrogen hub development as a major job creator. Last year, Pennsylvania lawmakers offered their own incentive to potential producers - namely, a $50 million state tax credit. The infrastructure law included billions of dollars in grants for the creation of hydrogen hubs, which are manufacturing centers for the production of the element. That divide was recently on display in the state House’s Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which assumed a key role in figuring out how to regulate hydrogen in Pennsylvania after the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act became law in 2021. ![]() A desire to make the state attractive to the industry is pitting jobs-oriented lawmakers against environmental advocates who worry that without stricter regulation, hydrogen won't combat climate change as intended.
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