“Jim Snell: Carbon capture and storage is key to sustaining Pennsylvania’s energy dominance”

“Jim Snell: Carbon capture and storage is key to sustaining Pennsylvania’s energy dominance

“We can build a low-carbon energy economy that protects good-paying jobs in the region.”

By Jim Snell

Pennsylvania’s transition to low-carbon energy holds enormous opportunity for working men and women throughout our region. Over the coming decades, technologies like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen have the potential to be just as meaningful to our commonwealth’s economic and environmental future as our prolific natural gas development. If Pennsylvania continues to make smart investments in these safe, proven advancements that enhance our existing energy and manufacturing industries, you can bet that Pennsylvania’s skilled tradesmen will be ready to meet growing global demand for low-carbon products.

With the recent announcement of the MACH2 Hydrogen Hub spanning Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, we’re already seeing the promise that these transformational projects can bring. The U.S. Department of Energy is poised to invest $750 million dollars to kickstart production of enough clean, carbon-free energy to reduce emissions from boilers and engines by approximately one million metric tons per year. This investment is projected to bring upwards of 20,000 good-paying jobs to our region, putting skilled pipefitters, electricians, carpenters, welders and other essential building trades to work constructing this infrastructure. We should do everything we can to support the ongoing effort to make the United States a world leader in hydrogen made by American workers.

Just as natural gas revived the Marcus Hooks Industrial Complex in Delaware County and other facilities across the state, low-carbon infrastructure can breathe a second or third life into factories and power generators that underpin neighborhoods and towns. Our energy generation and manufacturing industries contribute about half of all US emissions but also employ hundreds of thousands of workers in Pennsylvania. Rather than closing these important facilities, by capturing emissions from operations before they reach the atmosphere, we can continue employing these skilled workers to produce the energy and goods we depend on every day in the most responsible way possible.”