WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and one of the Senate’s leading voices on climate, released the following statement on the Biden administration’s new hydrogen rules:
“I applaud the Biden administration for taking this important step to ensure that we develop a truly clean hydrogen industry. Hydrogen has the potential to be a key part of the climate solution, but only if we get it right.
“While hydrogen is not itself a greenhouse gas, creating hydrogen energy can be very greenhouse gas-intensive. I and others have pushed hard for high standards because if hydrogen is not clean, then it cannot be a solution for hard-to-decarbonize sectors like heavy industry, and could even take us in the wrong direction. Congress invested billions of dollars to start a hydrogen industry in the U.S. because it recognized that it can be an important part of our climate efforts, and today the administration took a key step forward to protect that vision.”
In May, Merkley led a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Danny Werfel emphasizing the importance of getting the hydrogen tax credits right and pushing for clean hydrogen solutions. In October, Merkley—with Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)—led a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Climate Counselor Ethan Zindler, urging the Biden Administration to deploy Section 45V Tax Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen (45V) of the Inflation Reduction Act.
###
English 
Spanish