REJECT Hydrogen Hub Proposals Nationwide letter to DOE

Hydrogen hubs will perpetuate environmental injustice.A hydrogen economy will mean more polluting infrastructure and dangerous pipelines in already overburdened areas, which will continue the legacy of sacrifice zones that disproportionately harm people of color, low-income communities and Indigenous peoples. Throughout the hydrogen hub application process, DOE and project proponents have withheld critical information about the proposed projects. Impacted communities have had no or very little access to information about the environmental impacts of the proposed hubs, project locations, fuel sources and end-uses, associated infrastructure, and other details. Communities cannot meaningfully engage in determining their energy futures when critical information about these proposals are withheld.To create jobs and ensure a just and equitable transition to a sustainable economy, we urge DOE to reject all hydrogen hubs, and instead invest in true, community-supported, renewables like wind and solar. We should be building towards a truly just and equitable transition, that invests in community ownership of truly renewable, regenerative economies, that reduces consumption and exploitation, and protects the rights of communities globally from North to South. In doing so, DOE must secure the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous peoples, end the violence of extraction-based economies, and support efforts to give Land Back. The climate crisis poses a grave threat to all life on Earth. DOE has the power to help lead a transformation to a more 5 sustainable future. To do so, you must help phase out fossil fuels and reject false solutions like hydrogen.