Secretive Hydrogen Hub Talks Test Energy Agency Community Plans

The Biden administration is negotiating with hydrogen industry leaders on legally binding commitments involving tens of thousands of new jobs and lower emissions, a pledge crucial to winning community support and achieving US environmental justice goals.

But the secrecy of those negotiations has emerged as an early sticking point in the Energy Department’s strategy to engage those communities hosting infrastructure spurred by its $8 billion hydrogen hub program, environmental justice advocates said and department officials acknowledged.

The department’s negotiations with seven regional hydrogen hubs have been playing out in private since the selections were announced in October. The department and ...