Mrvan urges Energy Secretary to give green light for Hydrogen Hub
Mrvan asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright Wednesday in a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development hearing about the criteria for review and status of the Northwest hydrogen hub project.
Under the Infrastructure Bill, Mrvan said seven hydrogen hubs were awarded federal funding. One of the hubs, the MachH2, is located in Northwest Indiana, Mrvan said, and it is currently under review.
Energy Department officials are considering cutting funding for the development of four hydrogen production hubs in mostly Democratic-leaning states and maintaining funding for three hubs in mostly Republican states, according to a March Politico article.
Congress and the Biden administration allocated the funding for the seven projects, so cutting the funding would politicize federal funds, according to the Politico article.
Mrvan said his office has worked with fellow members of Congress, former Gov. Eric Holcomb, current Gov. Mike Braun, and the state legislature 'to set the table for the hydrogen hub.'
The project creates 12,000 construction jobs, which Northwest Indiana unions can fill, and allows the area steel industries to have a cleaner distribution by capturing carbon, Mrvan said.
'It is a blue hydrogen, and it is something that will be transformational. Transformational in economic development within my community,' Mrvan said. 'This is something that creates work and wealth, has passed the Congress, and is now being reviewed by the Department of Energy.'
Acknowledging 'people's frustrations,' Wright said no decisions have been made for hydrogen hub projects because he wanted to collect 'thorough data' and establish a process for reviewing the projects.
Currently, the department is funding feasibility studies, Wright said, to review the economic viability of the projects. Under review procedures, Wright said, the department will consider legal aspects, the technology, the engineering and the market for the hydrogen hubs.
'We are just looking the same way any business would look at investments,' Wright said.
To Wright's point about the market, Mrvan said both Northwest Indiana steel mills — Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel — have created a system to use hydrogen through the carbon capture project, which uses a blast furnace 'to be able to make more globally competitive steel and put less carbon out in my district, so we have cleaner air and cleaner water.'
Andrew Fulton, a spokesman for U.S. Steel, said the company has partnered with CarbonFree as part of its effort to look 'for ways to reduce emissions through advanced technology.'
'This carbon capture and utilization project will help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions by converting emissions to calcium carbonate, which is used in a variety of products for consumers and industry,' Fulton said.
If a hydrogen hub project has established cofinancing, the science and engineering work, has viability and had an offtake agreement then 'those are the kind of things that we're going to go forward with,' Wright said.
'We want to improve the energy system,' Wright said.
Mrvan said he wants to work in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the Northwest Indiana hydrogen hub project moves forward. Mrvan asked about the certainty of the project moving forward.
'Because it was awarded, now it's held, and uncertainty is blowing up our economy,' Mrvan said.
The department's goal is to review all nearly 500 large projects by the end of the summer, Wright said.
'I've always said energy should not be political. It's the basic infrastructure of human lives,' Wright said.
Mrvan and U.S. Senator Jim Banks, R-Indiana, recently wrote Wright a letter to urge the Trump administration to prioritize Northwest Indiana as a regional hydrogen hub.
'Prioritizing a hydrogen hub in Northwest Indiana is a bold, pro-American decision that plays to our state's strengths. Indiana offers the Hoosier workforce, infrastructure and industrial knowledge to deliver results fast,' the Congressmen wrote in the letter.
The bp Whiting Refinery could be used for blue hydrogen production, which is created from clean natural gas using carbon capture technology. Blue Hydrogen uses existing infrastructure and could provide 'a scalable energy source capable of meeting immediate energy demands,' according to the letter.
A spokesman for bp declined to comment.
The Whiting Refinery can process up to 440,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the letter. Continuing the project 'will ensure that our energy and steel industries remain well positioned for success into the next century,' according to the letter.
'Investing in blue hydrogen production at this facility will bolster existing supply chains and will best position the United States for energy dominance,' the Congressmen wrote. 'We believe the success of the hydrogen energy project will support the administration's stated goal to reshore our critical industries and strengthen our manufacturing base.'
The congressmen asked the Trump Administration to make the Hydrogen Hub a priority.
'Indiana is ready to lead the way in blue hydrogen innovation, strengthening American manufacturing, boosting our domestic energy supply and lowering costs by maximizing the potential of our abundant and reliable fossil fuel resources,' they wrote.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
27 minutes ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani mentions Andrew Cuomo in same breath as Jeffrey Epstein in new video
Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani is going nuclear on rival Andrew Cuomo — attempting to link the ex-governor to Jeffrey Epstein in a new scorched-earth campaign video. In the 90-second TikTok-style spot, Mamdani, looking into the camera, demands that Cuomo release his list of consulting clients, noting the ex-gov once worked on a luxury marina project with a pal, Andrew Farkas, whose former business partner was Epstein. 'In June, the New York Times found out that Cuomo worked with his longtime friend Andrew Farkas on a luxury marina project in Puerto Rico. Farkas' previous partner on Caribbean luxury marinas was none other than Jeffrey Epstein,' Mamdani says. 8 Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani released a scathing new attack ad against his rival former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC 8 The video lists of a number of alleged scandals involving the ex-governor — even linking him to Jeffrey Epstein. SARAH YENESEL/EPA/Shutterstock The mud-slinging from Mamdani comes days after Cuomo hammered the socialist for snagging a $2,300 rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria despite his family's apparent wealth. Cuomo even proposed 'Zohran's Law' to prevent well-to-do residents from obtaining rent-restricted apartments. The new spot starts with Mamdani noting that Cuomo 'resigned in disgrace and you probably know why' — then shows footage and articles about women who accused the then-gov of sexual misconduct and the controversy surrounding his nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Democratic mayoral nominee demands that Cuomo release the list of clients from the consulting firm he launched in 2022 after he exited the governor's office, Innovative Strategies LLC. Mamdani gripes in the video that Cuomo has not divulged who paid him. But published reports have said Cuomo worked for a crypto currency exchange based in the Seychelles that eventually pleaded guilty to operating illegally in the US. The Democratic socialist Queens assemblyman also notes that Cuomo did not initially disclose $2.6 million in stock options from a nuclear company to the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board. 8 The ad mentions that Cuomo worked on a luxury marina project in Puerto Rico with friend Andrew Farkas — who was a business partner with Epstein. New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP 8 Mamdani's ad highlights a Bloomberg article showing a link between Epstein and Farkas. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC 'His excuse? The stocks were technically owned by Innovation Strategies LLC – where Cuomo is the sole member,' Mamdani says. 'That's the thing about Andrew Cuomo: once you think you've learned all the scandals, you find out there's another. And another. And another. ' Cuomo can clear the air, Mamdani says, adding: 'Habibi – release your client list.' 8 A photo of Cuomo with Farkas shown in the Mamdani ad. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC A rep for Cuomo gleefully responded that they could 'smell the desperation from conspiracy peddling' in Mamdani's attack. '[Cuomo] didn't know Epstein, but you can smell the desperation from conspiracy peddling Zohran,' said Cuomo campaign spokesman Richard Azzopardi. The former governor — who is running as an independent in the November election after getting soundly bested by Mamdani in the Democratic primary — also has vehemently denied he sexually harassed anyone. 8 Mamdani also bashed Cuomo over his COVID-19 book scandal. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC One campaign strategist said Mamdani's ad was a 'gutsy move' — and likely a response to Cuomo scoring points by hitting him for his rent-stabilized apartment. 'It's a gutsy move. Mamdani is defining Cuomo to general election voters on his terms,' said O'Brien 'OB' Murray, who has run campaigns for Republicans and Democrats. He said Mamdani is not leaving it to campaign surrogates to do the dirty work and is willing to go toe-to-toe with Cuomo. 8 Mamdani also took a shot at Cuomo's performance in the city's Democratic mayoral primary. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC 'It's a page out of Donald Trump's playbook. When the candidates say something about an opponent, voters pay attention to it,' Murray said. But Mamdani risks 'tarnishing' his image by getting in the mud with Cuomo, even if he wants to keep the focus on the ex-gov's past scandals, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion. 'The Cuomo people are probably happy to draw a response. They want to engage Mamdani,' Miringoff said. 'Zohran risks tarnishing his image.' 8 Mamdani called on Cuomo to release the list of clients involved with his consulting firm Innovative Strategies LLC. YouTube/@ZohranforNYC Azzopardi dismissed the video as 'nothing more than a temper tantrum from an insecure child of privilege who knows his tenuous lead is slipping away.' He said the project in question with Farkas never got off the ground, and in regards to his consultancy business, Cuomo does not comment on those 'private client matters' and has not represented anyone with business before a New York city or state agency. Azzopardi also said the stock options were publicly disclosed in Federal Communication Commission files for years. 'There was a question about if and how they were required to be disclosed on city filings, which, after consulting with the Conflict of Interest board, we corrected the same day the matter was brought to our attention,' the Cuomo rep said. 'Try as he might, Zohran can't distract from the rank hypocrisy of growing up wealthy, owning hundreds of thousands of dollars of land in a country that has the death penalty for LGBTQIA people and making more than $140k a year for a job he doesn't show up to while taking a rent stabilized apartment meant for a working New Yorker, not to mention his flip flopping on the defund the police and supporting pro-Hamas criminals like the Holy Land Five,' Azzopardi said. 'He's a total fraud and with every passing day New Yorkers see it.'
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Tariff ‘Mission Accomplished' hype is just that
On May 1, 2003, George W. Bush announced, 'Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.' He was standing below a giant banner that read, 'Mission Accomplished.' At the risk of inviting charges of understatement, subsequent events didn't cooperate. But it took a while for that to be widely accepted. We're in a similar place when it comes to President Trump's experiment with a new global trading order. 'Tariffs are making our country Strong and Rich!!!' proclaims Trump, making him not only the first Republican president in living memory to brag about raising taxes on Americans, but also the first to insist that raising taxes on Americans makes us richer. MAGA's mission-accomplished groupthink relies primarily on three arguments. The first is that Trump has successfully concluded a slew of beneficial trade deals. The truth is that some of those deals are simply 'frameworks' that will take a long time to be ironed out. But Trump got the headlines he wanted. The second argument is a kind of populism-infused sleight of hand. The 'experts' — their scare quotes, not mine — are wrong once again. The White House social media account crows, 'In April, 'experts' called tariffs 'the biggest policy mistake in 95 years.' By July, they generated OVER $100 BILLION in revenue. Facts expose the haters: tariffs WORK. Trust in Trump.' But the high-fivers are leaving things out. The most-dire predictions of economic catastrophe were based on the scheme Trump announced on April 2, a.k.a. 'Liberation Day.' Trump quickly backed off that plan ('chickened out' in Wall Street parlance) in response to a bond and stock market implosion. Saying the experts were wrong under those circumstances is like saying experts opposed to defenestration were wrong when they successfully convinced a man not to jump out a window. The third argument, made by the White House and many others — that tariffs are working because they're raising money — is a response to a claim no one made. To my knowledge, no expert claimed tariffs wouldn't raise money. The estimates of these revenues from Trump world are stratospheric. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expects somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion per year. Last month, the government collected $29 billion. It's likely this number will significantly increase as more tariffs come online and businesses run down the inventory they stockpiled earlier this year in anticipation of more tariffs to come. Normally, Republicans don't exult over massive revenues from tax hikes. But Trump's defenders get around this problem by insisting that money is 'pouring' and 'flowing' into America from someplace else. It's true that tariff revenue is pouring into the Treasury, but that money is coming out of American bank accounts, because American importers pay the tariff. Even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cannot deny this when pressed. So yes, tariffs are 'working' the way they're supposed to; the problem is Trump thinks tariffs work differently than they do. It's possible some foreign exporters might lower prices to maintain market share, and some American businesses might absorb the costs — for now — to avoid sticker shock for inflation-beleaguered consumers, but what revenue is generated still comes from Americans. Ultimately it means higher prices paid here, reduced profits for businesses here or reduced U.S. trade overall. Sometimes, when pressed, defenders of the administration will concede the true source of the revenues, but then they say the pain is necessary to force manufacturers and other businesses to build and produce in the United States. It's backdoor industrial policy masquerading as trade policy. That, too, might 'work.' But all of this will take time, no matter what. And, if it works, that will have costs, too. Manufacturing in America is more expensive — that's why we manufacture so much stuff abroad in the first place. If this 'reshoring' happens, our goods will be more expensive, and less money will 'pour in' from tariffs. It's difficult to exaggerate how well-understood all of this was on the American right until very recently. But the need to grab any argument available to declare Trump's experiment a success has a lot of people not only abandoning their previous dogma but leaping to the conclusion that the dogma was wrong all along. Maybe it was, though I don't think so. The evidence so far suggests that problems are looming. The dollar is weakening. Prices continue to rise. The job market is reeling. The stock market (an unreliable metric, according to MAGA, when it plummeted after Liberation Day) is holding on, thanks to tech stocks. The truth is we won't have real evidence for a while. It's worth remembering that Americans don't live by headlines and press releases and they don't live in the macro economy either. Declaring 'Mission Accomplished' for the macro economy won't convince people they're better off in their own micro-economies when they're not. @JonahDispatch
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
What to know on Trump's DC takeover
Hi! Rebecca Morin here. I've been binging 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' to take a break from all the news – and it's fair to say I'm excited for the new episode this week. Is DC unsafe, like Trump claims? President Donald Trump on Monday said he wants to combat what he called 'bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse' in Washington, DC – deploying National Guard troops and having the federal government take over the city's police department. But crime data paints a much more nuanced picture of what's going on in the nation's capital. Washington does have relatively high rates of violent crime and murder among major cities in the United States, but it has a much lower violent crime rate than some cities Trump hasn't spotlighted, such as Memphis, Tennessee. Overall, crime in the city has been on a downward trend in recent years. The murder rate in DC is far below its historic peak, which at one point led to the city earning the moniker of "murder capital.' See a breakdown of the data. Who is running DC police? As part of Trump's new actions in DC, the president tapped his newly confirmed Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terrance "Terry" Cole to also head the Metropolitan Police Department, one of the nation's largest and most dysfunctional police departments. It was unclear how the police rank and file and the MPD's police union would respond to being run by the Trump administration. Why the pressure is on for Cole in his new position. Anger over Trump crackdown: Dozens of people in the nation's capitol took to the streets on Monday to protest Trump's actions. One protester, Donna Powell, told USA TODAY that the president is 'trying to piss people off.' See what residents said about Trump's new actions. A politics pit stop Lawmakers to push for Epstein files release Congress is on their annual one-month summer break. But when lawmakers make it back to the U.S. Capitol, one thing is already on their agenda: the controversy surrounding convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats and Republicans alike have been pushing for the release of all the Epstein files after a Justice Department report found that Epstein died by suicide and did not have a 'client list,' despite previous suggestions by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Epstein and Trump were once longtime friends. Members of Congress from both parties say they'll force more public debate on the issue when their recess ends after Labor Day. Inside lawmakers' plans to push for release of Epstein files. Why DC banned kindergarten 'redshirting' Jennifer Lilintahl, in Washington, DC wanted to delay her five-year-old from entering kindergarten. Her daughter, she said, wasn't ready to learn to read. Now her daughter is six-years-old and Lilintahl tried to enroll her in kindergarten, but DC Public Schools officials said she'd have to enter first grade because of her age. Delaying kindergarten for one year, a process known as 'redshirting,' is one of the latest issues for the growing parents' rights movement, which has been dominated by public school parents who want more control over what their children learn and where they go to school. Some parents argue their kids need the "additional year of schooling" in pre-kindergarten. But others say it creates an unfair advantage compared to families who don't have the resources to delay schooling. What to know about the debate. Got a burning question, or comment, for On Politics? You can submit them here or send me an email at rdmorin@
