Latest News & Press Releases from US Senator Maria Cantwell
TL/DR –
The Trump Administration has cut approximately $1 billion in federal funding from the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2), a collective working on green hydrogen infrastructure projects in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. The funding cuts are expected to impact over 10,000 jobs, primarily in rural areas, and potentially reduce billions in clean energy investments. The PNWH2, which was selected through a competitive national contest, was the chosen hub to demonstrate how clean hydrogen from hydropower could be used across different industries and transport sectors.
Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, Costing the Region Over 10,000 Jobs
The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2) has faced a significant blow as its funding, initially amounting to nearly $1 billion, has been sliced off by the Trump Administration. The announcement was made by the White House Office of Management and Budget, impacting PNWH2’s efforts in supporting clean energy in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. The cancellation of funding is expected to result in job losses exceeding 10,000, particularly in rural areas across these states.
“The decision to withdraw funds from the groundbreaking Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub is both unprecedented and corrupt. The allocation was made to our region following an intense national contest because we demonstrated our pioneering researchers, clean energy resources, and a commitment of more than $5 billion in local investments to prove that clean hydrogen is viable. I will be fighting to restore these funds,” stated U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a leading member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Projects Affected by the Funding Cut
The funding cut has impacted several partner projects of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub in Washington state, including:
- Alare Renewables (Whatcom County): $102,797,603
- Atlas Agro (Benton County): $157,342,270
- Northwest Seaport Alliance (King/Pierce Counties): $11,800,670
- Lewis County Transit (Lewis County): $36,385,400
The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub was aimed at creating a green hydrogen ecosystem, thereby stimulating billions of dollars in infrastructure investments and providing alternatives to fossil fuels. After years of development and winning a fiercely competitive national competition, the Hub was chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the potential of clean hydrogen generated from hydropower for various industries and transportation sectors.
In October 2023, the DOE named PNWH2 as one of seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) across the nation, with a focus on using the Pacific Northwest’s abundant and clean hydropower supplies to produce hydrogen via hydrolysis. The DOE announced in July 2024 that PNWH2 received Phase 1 award status and would receive an initial amount of up to $27.5 million to fund planning, permitting, and analysis activities, ensuring the overall Hub concept’s technological and financial viability.
The hydrogen investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) were included by Sen. Cantwell during its consideration in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where she served as a senior member in July 2021. She also pushed for its successful passage through the Senate. Together with the clean hydrogen incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), these investments represent a historical investment that will help spur hydrogen to be an important piece of the decarbonizing puzzle needed to reach our climate goals.
In March 2024, Sen. Cantwell led a bipartisan delegation of Washington and Oregon lawmakers to express their support for PNWH2 in a letter to the DOE. In this letter, the lawmakers wrote that the PNWH2, with the support of the region’s enormous federal and non-federal hydropower resources, will not only show our region’s capacity to produce, process, deliver, store, and use clean hydrogen, but we believe it will serve as a national model of how an integrated clean hydrogen network can facilitate creating an affordable and self-sustaining clean hydrogen economy.”
In July 2024, Sen. Cantwell led her colleagues in a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging the agency to ease its criteria for hydrogen power development projects that qualify for the Section 45V Credit, established by the IRA, which reimburses hydrogen power projects by up to $3 per kilogram of hydrogen produced.
The senators wrote in their letter, “The 45V credit offers the United States an irreplaceable opportunity to boost our economic and international competitiveness. At this critical juncture for the expansion of domestic clean hydrogen production, it is important that Treasury apply a workable tax treatment of new projects to spur investment, attract customers, and promote new clean energy jobs. Getting it right means capitalizing on this opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faster and enhance our energy security, while strengthening our economy, creating thousands of jobs, and combating the climate crisis.”
The H2Hubs program established by the BIL designates up to $7 billion in competitive grants to establish between six and 10 regional clean hydrogen hubs across the United States. These networks or hubs of hydrogen producers, consumers, and local connective infrastructure will help speed up the use of hydrogen as clean energy and work towards achieving the goal of a 100 percent clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, a collective of government, tribal, labor, energy, research, nonprofit, and private sector stakeholders, aims to establish a hydrogen center in the Pacific Northwest region. This public-private partnership includes leaders from the Washington State Department of Commerce, the Oregon Department of Energy, Amazon, Washington State University, and others.
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