Alma Figueroa began to worry when she learned that her gas provider wanted to test a controversial solution to curb global warming: blend hydrogen with natural gas to power her stove and other appliances.Figueroa, who has asthma and recently learned her lung cancer is back, worries about health risks.“I don't want to be anyone's experiment," said Figueroa, 60, a resident of Orange Cove in California's Central Valley.
The Southern California Gas Co.wants to blend and inject hydrogen into the town’s gas infrastructure, after the state agency that regulates utilities directed them and other companies to launch pilot projects.
Proponents see it as key to helping California reduce planet-warming pollution by curbing reliance on gas while integrating cleaner energy into existing infrastructure.It's part of a statewide effort to create safety rules for hydrogen blending.
But opponents say it poses unnecessary risks, and Orange Cove's mostly Latino and low-income residents say processes are happening without transparency or their input.Projects in states such as Colorado and Oregon have also raised concerns.Interest in deploying hydrogen boomed during the Biden administration but has been hard hit with the Trump administration's cancellation of billions of dollars for hydrogen technology and other clean energy projects, including $1.2 billion for a hydrogen hub in California.
The Orange Cove project is one of five proposed in California to test how gas pipelines and the appliances they fuel hold up with different amounts of hydrogen.Hawaii has been blending for decades.
Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent planet-warming gas that's supercharging extreme weather worldwide, which often impacts low-income and communities of color the most.Supporters see green hydrogen as one way to cut emissions.
It's made with renewable energy sources such as solar or wind to power an electrolyzer, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, a carbon-free gas that can be used to...