CR3 News Magazine 2023 VOL 2: FEB / MAR -- BLACK & WOMEN HISTORY | Page 14

... continued from page 13 [blue hydrogen]

Additionally, the production of blue hydrogen itself raises the same elevated health risks for people living in proximity to these large-scale industrial complexes. With larger facilities comes greater emissions and greater risks of spills, leaks, or other contamination events. Given the right atmospheric conditions, pollution can travel for miles, impacting residents far from the source of emissions.

How else will public health be impacted by blue hydrogen?

Public health may also be impacted by the transportation and storage of gas feeder stock, used wastewater, gas byproducts, and the hydrogen itself once produced. Whether these products or byproducts are transported by diesel trucks, trains, ships, or pipelines, potentially harmful pollution releases occur at every stage of the process. The risks of accidents and explosions increase, too. Operators are also challenged to find proper ways to store or dispose of other waste, which typically contains hazardous chemicals and often radioactive substances.

While blue hydrogen might be considered cleaner than some other available fuel options (think coal and oil), it’s not without a carbon footprint. Utilities want to take hydrogen and combust it the way you would current fuels, an alternative to the fuel cell technology described above. As hydrogen production ramps up, utilities have discussed mixing hydrogen with methane gas to burn as fuel, emitting greenhouse gases in the process. Even if the hydrogen is derived using green technologies, burning it with methane can produce dangerously high levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Two studies found that burning hydrogen-enriched methane gas can lead to NOx emissions up to six times that of burning methane alone.[3] NOx plays a major role in the formation of smog—a major contributor to asthma and other respiratory issues.

Further, a large-scale blue hydrogen industry would facilitate more releases of climate-altering methane, which carries a heavy public health burden, as lethal storms, fires, heat waves, floods, and other extreme weather events impact people’s physical and mental health worldwide.

How can we protect public health from blue hydrogen production?

Whether it’s blue hydrogen or fossil fuel production, the Environmental Health Project (EHP) calls for robust and comprehensive public health protections:

• Industry must be compelled to effect stringent emissions detection and reporting—working

with communities to reduce exposure and alert the public of any unusual releases, whether

planned or accidental.

•Government agencies must be intrinsically involved in making sure industry complies with

pollution standards, holding operators accountable when they do not comply.

•Health impact assessments and other community health monitoring must be put in place to

ensure public health is protected today and into the future. Residents must be informed fully

about health risks to which they are exposed.

•It is not enough to regulate sources of emissions singly. All sources of emissions must be

aggregated to determine actual levels of pollution the public is exposed to in any given

locality.

•Production facilities, well pads, compressor stations, and other shale gas infrastructure must

be situated far enough from areas of human activity—including homes, schools,

businesses, and recreational facilities—to protect public health. EHP recommends

these setback distances be at least one-half mile.

•Communities must be given a say as to whether this development happens within their

borders, and there must be clear channels of communication between governmental

agencies, industrial operators, and community leaders.

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