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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0269.010 2022-2024 P/Council Rcs.«3-13 COW.% From: Cory Sent: Monday, May 01, 2023 8:03 PM To: Evans, Cynthia F.W.; Galimba, Michelle M.; Inaba, Holeka; Kagiwada,Jennifer; Kanealii- Kleinfelder, Matt; Kierkiewicz, Ashley; Kimball, Heather; Lee Loy, Sue;Villegas, Rebecca; Council Testimony COUNTY CLERK Subject: oppose Res 163 hydrogen Council May 3 COUNTY OF HAWAI'I RECEIVED -L Time S�No :21 Byyy Aloha Councilmembers, Date MAY 0 2 2121 If you don't vote down this resolution, at least amend it, so after the agreement is written, it will not be final until it has been approved by one committee vote and two County Council votes. • The Administration says the resolution is"merely a formality".Authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement to spend taxpayer money is a "formality"?? The Administration says the selection of Hawai'i County to participate in H2 Twin Cities was announced in November 2022. So now they need your vote on the agreement just two days before its signing deadline?? Please ask the Administration what interaction they have had with Hu Honua related to this resolution, especially since the March Supreme Court decision rejecting Hu Honua's Power Purchase Agreement.The hydrogen resolution (163) combined with the Yummet resolution (73) could grease the skids for a waste-to-energy facility to produce hydrogen. Mahalo, Cory Harden Comm. No 21eq.10 Ref. To: r Ind I 1 Ref. Date MAY — 3 2023 Opposition to Resolution 163 for Hawai'i County Council, 9 AM Wednesday, May 3, 2023, Kona chambers from Cory Harden,Sierra Club, Hawai'i Island Group It is mind-boggling that the Council is poised to pass sweeping,vaguely worded changes to County policy, with minimal debate and less than a week's notice to the public—for the second time. The first time was Resolution 73,which supported up-ending the entire County solid waste plan in three short years in favor of environmentally unfriendly alternatives, and appeared to be written to benefit the Yummet corporation. Council is abdicating its responsibility to taxpayers if it approves the vague language in Resolution 163 to authorize the Mayor"execute, on behalf of the County an agreement, and related documents.." We urge that the Council focus instead on supporting distributed solar and wind energy with advanced storage solutions (battery, pumped hydro, etc)for a sustainable, resilient power supply with minimal dependence on shipping supplies over thousands of miles. Has the County already made commitments without public input or Council approval? The City of Lancaster website says it"is now adding a mentee-the County of Hawai'i". https.//www.cityo flancasterca.orq/home/showpublisheddocument/44716/63 7975551313570000 Why the big rush? The April 21, 2023 letter from Finance Committee Chair Matt Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder to Council Chair Heather Kimball says "timely approval is crucial". But the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that funded "hubs"for low-carbon hydrogen passed two years ago. Where's the community engagement? "Jeremy Ortiz, a DOE [US Department of Energy] spokesman...[was] pointing out that applicants [for hydrogen hub coalitions] were required to include a plan describing their engagements with community and labor groups..." https://www.eenews.net/articles/doe-hydrogen-hubs-4-issues-to-watch/ "20% of the assessment of each hydrogen hub application will depend on the hub's Community Benefits Plan (CBP)." U.S. hydrogen hubs: What comes next?Clean Air Task Force, April 3, 2023 https://www.catf.us/2023/04/us-hydrogen-hubs-what-comes-next/ Will the hydrogen be environmentally friendly?The resolution does not specify green hydrogen. Where are the customers for the hydrogen? And the infrastructure to deliver it? Who stands to benefit from this hydrogen hub?The public, or special interests? What about the drawbacks of hydrogen? Hydrogen is a very small molecule, making it more likely than methane to leak. But if it does,we are in trouble. Hydrogen molecules have a global warming potential 11 times greater than carbon dioxide. ..It's volatile and flammable, even more so than fracked gas. Hydrogen pipelines have already caused explosions, posing major dangers to communities near that infrastructure. Moreover, hydrogen is currently stored as ammonia, a hazardous chemical that can cause death in high concentrations. https.//www.foodandwaterwatch.orq/2022/10/24/the-dirty-side-of-green-hydrogen/ "...hydrogen itself does not produce energy; it is a carrier, and stores energy like a battery. Pure hydrogen is not found in nature, so energy has to be used to separate hydrogen from the other substances it is stored in... hydrogen is largely made from dirty energy... Biofuels, like ethanol, are another way to make hydrogen. But there are plenty of fossil fuel inputs in biofuel production:feedstock crops use natural gas-based fertilizer, energy-intensive farm machinery, and in the case of ethanol plants, are powered by mini coal and gas plants. Even if ethanol production were somehow clean, it is adding another inefficient process into the inefficient process of making hydrogen. It would make more sense powering cars directly... [you can] produce hydrogen by splitting water with wind and solar generated electricity. However,this wastes 4 times the amount of electricity that the hydrogen will actually yield... Hydrogen has to be concentrated for use in transportation: either liquefied, compressed, or stored in a metal hydride. Hydrogen molecules are extremely tiny and will leak from almost any container or pipe... it takes 3,000 times more space to store the same amount of energy as gasoline. It can only be liquefied at temperatures near absolute zero...The liquefying process uses 40% of the energy in the hydrogen with a product that only contains'/the energy of gasoline by volume." FACT SHEET: Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, Energy Justice Network, https://www.energyjustice.net/files/hydrogen/factsheet-hydrogen.pdf While industry touts hydrogen as a "clean" solution, globally only 0.02 percent of current hydrogen production is green... Electric vehicle options are available, more efficient, and cheaper to purchase and operate than hydrogen vehicles... There are some ways in which green hydrogen use could be part of getting to zero emissions economy-wide, but they are likely most appropriate for hard-to-decarbonize sectors, like long- haul freight trucking. Green hydrogen has the potential to help store intermittent renewable energy; be converted to a "zero-emissions"fuel for maritime shipping and aviation; be used in high-heat industrial processes that cannot otherwise be electrified; or, be used as a feedstock in some industrial processes, like steel production... It is always more efficient to use renewable power directly than to convert renewable energy to hydrogen for use as an energy source... When hydrogen is combusted, it does not produce carbon emissions, but it does produce NOx emissions up to six times worse than those released by methane combustion. .. Steel is susceptible to "hydrogen embrittlement," which is the loss of strength of the metal due to hydrogen entering into tiny spaces in the metal, causing the [transmission] pipe to crack... ...current leak detection systems are designed for gas, not hydrogen, and would have to be upgraded to detect hydrogen, a colorless,tasteless, odorless gas. .. hops.//www.sierraclub.orq/articles/2022/01/hydrogen-future-clean-energy-or-fa!se- solution ### From: Cory Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2023 8:27 PM To: Evans, Cynthia F.W.; Galimba, Michelle M.; Inaba, Holeka; Kagiwada, Jennifer; Kanealii- Kleinfelder, Matt; Kierkiewicz, Ashley; Kimball, Heather; Lee Loy, Sue;Villegas, Rebecca; Council Testimony Subject: hydrogen Res 163 May 3 Aloha Councilmembers, Please see caveats re.hydrogen from the Energy Justice Network at http://www.energyi ustice.net/files/hydrogen/factsheet-hydrogen.pdf thx. Cory for County Council May 3 Res. 163-23:AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF LANCASTER AND NAMIE TOWN ...TO FORM THE PACIFIC HYDROGEN ALLIANCE Allows for a collaborative relationship amongst the City of Lancaster in California, Namie Town in the Prefecture of Fukushima,Japan, and the County of Hawaii to work towards the decarbonization of energy systems by replacing fossil fuels with green electricity,green hydrogen, and biomass. 1