Environmentalists, customers raise concerns about new NW Natural hydrogen project aimed at lowering emissions • Oregon Capital Chronicle

Oregon’s largest natural gas supplier is once again facing criticism from environmentalists and its customers for trying to cut emissions by blending what it claims is a low-carbon fuel with natural gas.

NW Natural launched a three-year pilot project in June that involves blending hydrogen and natural gas at a facility in southeastern Oregon and shipping it to customers, a move that prompted a group of Oregon environmentalists, Portland architects, building contractors, doctors and customers to call on state leaders to halt the project.

Natural gas is made up almost entirely of methane, a potent, planet-warming greenhouse gas that accounts for 40 percent of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions each year and an estimated one-third of global climate change. But hydrogen can be a zero-emission fuel, depending on how it’s produced. When combined with natural gas, it can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from burning natural gas alone, NW Natural said.

Critics, however, argue that such mixing could be dangerous to public health – burning hydrogen and natural gas in homes It was shown increase the risk of respiratory illnesses. They claim NW Natural failed to notify customers and is delaying the transition away from fossil fuels that is needed to meet the state’s emissions reduction goals.

Environmentalists say the company is apparently returning to its former glory Eugene in 2022, when scrapped plan to add hydrogen to gas, which was to be introduced after public outcry over a lack of transparency and community engagement.

Concerned customers

Anna Reid lives in the Brooklyn section of Portland, near the NW Natural plant that produces mixed hydrogen and natural gas and likely gets gas in her home. She only found out about it when her neighbor put up a homemade sign in his yard opposing the project.

“What worries me is the lack of transparency,” Reid said. “Tell us what you’re doing and why you made that decision and what data you have on that. Obviously people would have concerns, so how can you reassure us?”

She is among those concerned that the project is being implemented without local or state oversight.

On Friday, representatives from 46 Oregon nonprofits and businesses signed letter to Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland-area legislators, members of the Multnomah County Board, Portland City Council and the Public Utilities Commission who asked them to intervene.

“In short, mixing hydrogen with gas for home heating and cooking is not a solution to the climate problem,” they wrote.

Signatories include Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility in Portland, Climate Solutions based in Portland and Seattle, Northwest Energy Coalition, Portland-based Birdsmouth Design-Build, Green Hammer Design-Build, Salazar Architect Inc, Harka Architecture and Opsis Architecture.

“NW Natural appears to be operating without any oversight, accountability, or transparency regarding the amount of hydrogen being blended or the impact of blending on the health and safety of customers,” they wrote. “These actions appear to be unclear under Oregon’s current regulatory system, and actions by state leaders are necessary to ensure that appropriate health and safety reviews are in place before blending continues.”

Regulators have not looked at the project.

Spokespeople for the Oregon Department of Energy and the Oregon Public Utilities Commission said the case did not meet requirements for review because it was not related to rate increases or limited by jurisdictional rules.

David Roy, a spokesman for NW Natural, did not respond to Capital Chronicle questions about how many customers receive hydrogen-infused gas, where they live or whether the company has done any outreach to the community or customers about the project. NW Natural has about 2 million residential and commercial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington.

“The small amount of hydrogen blend (less than 0.2% by volume) from the pilot is within the requirements of the pipeline quality standard,” he said in an email.

Roy added that other utilities in the U.S. and Europe are also experimenting with hydrogen-natural gas blends, in proportions as high as 20% hydrogen.

According to estimates, replacing even 20% of natural gas with hydrogen reduces emissions from natural gas by only 7%. International Renewable Energy Agency.

“NW Natural is committed to effectively addressing climate change and urgently taking action to decarbonize the energy sector,” Roy said.

Instead of hydrogen, critics said in their letter, Oregonians need heating and cooling pumps powered by renewable electricity, not gas furnaces and stoves. Climate scientists have said countries around the world must achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change by the end of the century. That means natural gas will not have a place in the energy sector of the future.

“Building new hydrogen infrastructure for home heating will likely create stranded assets and delay the transition to heat pumps,” the letter reads, “which provide not only more efficient and affordable heating, but also life-saving cooling as Oregon communities grapple with increasingly frequent and deadly heat waves.”

The cost of producing hydrogen is much higher than the cost of electrifying homes and powering them with carbon-free solar and wind energy, experts say. Each ton of emissions reduced by mixing hydrogen with natural gas costs three times more than the next most expensive method, which is to pull carbon out of the atmosphere with large machines, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.