Even as the Bidenistas at the Dept. of Energy are deciding which regional hydrogen hub proposals to fund, and even though Pennsylvania, with its parochial application that competes against a much better application from West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, the Democrats in the PA House are attempting to force any new hydrogen projects in the Keystone state to NOT use fossil fuels–namely Marcellus Shale gas. Yes, they are insane! PA Dems (led by State Rep. Greg Vitali) are about to screw up PA’s already long shot at grabbing one of the 6 to 8 regional hydrogen hub projects and $1 billion in funding by promoting House Bill (HB) 1215–written by the radicals of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Talk about dumb. Wow!

NRDC shill Greg Vitali giving an angry speech in the PA House about the need to fight climate “catastrophe” two years ago.

Just before leaving office last year, then-Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill (HB) 1059, legislation to provide $142 million annually in state tax credits for several purposes, including hydrogen hubs and expanding the use of natural gas (see PA Gov Wolf Signs into Law $2.1B Tax Credit Bill for H2, NatGas). HB 1059, passed with bipartisan support, became Act 108 in PA law.

The left hated HB 1059 (now Act 108), even though it helps fund hydrogen and other favored energy sources, because “Ninety cents out of each dollar offered will be used to encourage the use of natural gas, including $1 billion in tax incentives to attract a new ‘hydrogen hub’ to Pennsylvania.” The left wants nothing to do with hydrogen if it encourages more extraction of natural gas.

So the left, under the oversight of Rep. Greg Vitali, a Democrat from Delaware County who chairs the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, introduced a new bill–House Bill (HB) 1215–aimed at forcing any new hydrogen hub project to use only “green” sources to create the hydrogen. No natural gas allowed.

In announcing this stupendously idiotic effort to screw PA out of receiving a hydrogen hub, Vitali said this in a co-sponsorship memo aimed at enlisting other leftists to support the bill:

Subject: Ensuring Clean Hydrogen Production

In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to amend Act 108 of 2022 to ensure hydrogen is developed in a way that furthers climate and sustainability goals. Act 108 provides tax credits for Pennsylvania companies that use hydrogen as part of a federally approved hydrogen hub. The federal government is currently considering multiple hydrogen hub applications from Pennsylvania.

This legislation requires hydrogen producing companies to sequester a large proportion of carbon emissions to receive the tax credit. The tax credit will be limited to hydrogen produced for “hard-to electrify” sectors, and a larger incentive will be offered to companies using hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources. These incentives will help ensure hydrogen production in Pennsylvania is in alignment with our collective goal to combat climate change.

Please join me in cosponsoring this important legislation.

Editor’s Note: Let’s be perfectly clear. Greg Vitali doesn’t have original thoughts. I dealt with as a witness before the committee he now chairs and all he does is mouth shibboleths fed to him by NRDC types who know he’s a very reliable shill. He’s incapable of responding to real arguments. Moreover, the NRDC—a thoroughly Rockefeller entity—is as China-friendly as it gets. The NRDC tycoons see themselves as global citizens and, more particularly, as the global ruling class, which has put all its bets on China where they already have energy investments.

And, China doesn’t want hydrogen hubs here in the U.S. because it plans to be the hydrogen hub for the world. It has played the U.N., the WEF and IEA like violins, pursuing hydrogen development using coal  (blue hydrogen) while pretending it plans to transition to green hydrogen later. (See here as well). It’s the same schtick the Chinese Communists have used over and over with green energy in general as they are building coal plants at a staggering pace. China knows how to do fakery and co-opt Westerners like no one before (e.g., their buying off of Joe Biden). Rep. Vitali was an even easier mark and likely required no bribe. He was probably happy just to be politically correct.

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