Midwest Hydrogen Hub - Phase 1 Award Virtual Community Briefing

[Music] welcome everyone uh I want to begin just by thanking you for joining us today uh welcome to the Midwest hydrogen Hub community briefing uh my name is Emmanuel I will be your facilitator today I'm joined today by colleagues uh from doe oset as well as the uh Midwest hydrogen Hub um they're going to be introducing themselves in just a bit uh before we get started uh we'll note that there are a few functions available to you on your Zoom control panel uh you can click on uh the show captions button in your control panel um if you'd like live captioning uh to turn on a Spanish or American sign language interpretation uh please click on the interpretation button in your control panel you may have to hit the more button in order to be able to access that uh just to note that today's webinar will be recorded uh and we that it the excuse me the recording will be published to Ed's website along with the presentation slides that you'll see today uh next slide please well welcome as many of you are aware um OED uh the department of energy clean energy Dem office of clean energy demonstrations uh has announced the selection of seven different Regional hydrogen hubs uh that's this happened in October of 2023 um after many months of negotiation on November 20th osed awarded the Midwest hydrogen Hub uh it's being led by the Midwest Alliance for clean energy LLC uh referred to as ma ag2 um and uh there is a potential for up to $1 billion in economic activity uh between the hubs contribution and potential cost share uh from osed Over the life of the project um so great opportunity for investment in the region uh doe and Mach H2 are here today to provide an update on the Hub uh speak to project information and to lay out opportunities uh that can help shape the energy future uh in your region uh so today everyone will have an opportunity to engage with doe uh and the and the project Partners uh during the Q&A that will take place at the end of this session uh next slide please um so quick introduction so again uh Emanuel Taylor I am not a part of the osed team I'm not a part of the Hub I'm an independent facilitator uh here to help to moderate the discussion uh and we're going have introductions from each of the individuals here on the screen uh so Garrett please thanks Emanuel uh good afternoon everyone my name is Garett schwe I'm project manager for the Midwest hydrogen Hub uh within osed uh the department of energy great to have you all here hello everyone my name is James wers I'm a community engagement specialist uh working on hydrogen uh Neil please yes I'm Neil banwart and I am the chief integration officer for Mach H2 thanks hi everyone Elizabeth coach I'm the chief Equity Justice officer for Mach H2 thanks everyone I'm not sure if the audio didn't work for me but uh Dorothy we saw you but I don't think we heard your introduction but uh we do welcome you and we appreciate you uh having being here today and we'll look forward to having you during the the Q&A and the discussion later um let's see next slide please want to quickly just review the agenda before we jump in so we're going to begin with an overview of project management and oversight from Ed's perspective and osed will also share uh next steps and and resources uh related to the project uh then we're going to hear directly from the macku team they'll provide an overview of the uh proposed uh project as well as the uh Community benefits plan uh then we'll move to our Q&A session uh and although this is later in the agenda we have the most time uh designated to this portion of the discussion uh where we hear from the questions that you all have uh for Ed and for the project team and we'll close with some uh resources and and some closing remarks I will note as some of you have found that there is a Q&A uh button on your Zoom control panel if you have a question at any point in time uh please feel free to submit your question you can also give a thumbs up uh to help us to prioritize questions that from others that you believe are important for us to cover today um so with that I'd like to turn things over to Garrett who will be our first speaker for from osid would talk more about project management and provide an overview all right thanks Manuel uh so um we give a brief overview on oset here so Congress provided funding through the bipartisan infrastructure law and inflation reduction act to help fund clean energy demonstration projects including the hydrogen hubs and so typically o said funds up to 50% of the costs for a given project in order to deliver clean energy technology demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector and core to our offices work is an emphasis on Equity we know we cannot get to a decarbonized energy system without working closely with the involved communities and that is why it's critical to we hear your questions and concerns and so appreciate you all being here today Community input not only shapes the specific projects osed funds but also shapes our comprehensive approach to building out the clean energy industry um and your community can be a part of this next slide please so this slide captures the osad portfolio at a high level we're investing more than $25 billion in a variety of Pathways and Technologies Central to achieving our Clean Energy Future and so for example including to the you know in addition to the hydrogen hubs program that we're discussing with you today our portfolio includes investments in things like long duration energy storage and carbon management as well as funding for clean energy projects in Rural and remote areas and on current former mind land bipart and infrastructure law Prof Ed doe with $8 billion in funding to develop the regional hubs and to accelerate the commercial scale deployment of lowcost clean energy we allocated up to7 Billion of that funding for seven hydrogen hubs which were selected uh last year these seven selected hubs will catalyze billions of dollars in private investment and create tens of thousands of good paying jobs the remaining 1 billion dollars of the hydrogen fund hubs funding is for the demand side initiative to ensure that both producers and end users in the H2 hubs have the market certainty they need during the early years of production to unlock critical private investment and so to give a little insight on you know why hydrogen so hydrogen is a versatile fuel that can be produced from diverse domestic and clean energy resources including wind solar and nuclear energy or by using natural gas while capturing and permanently storing the resulting carbon emissions hydrogen has unique characteristics as an energy carrier that make it the best option to decarbonize energy intensive heavy industry and support heavy duty Transportation hydrogen is the best option to decarbonize traditionally highly polluting Industries because because it can replace fossil fuels that create carbon dioxide and other pollution when burn so instead of burning fossil fuels we can use hydrogen which only creates water when used to make energy hydrogen's versatile end uses make it an important component to achieve a carbon free economy by 2050 the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act both included significant funding for clean energy including hydrogen as well as other Technologies and Pathways hydrogen is just one of many clean energy demonstrations de is investing in across the entire department next slide please so now you're here to learn more about the midwestern hydrogen Hub specifically but it is helpful to show the landscape of all the Hub seles and remind folks that a big goal of these hubs is to catalyze a national network of clean hydrogen infrastructure to to both reduce pollution and carbon emissions this map shows an overview of the seven selected Regional clean hydrogen Hub projects the selections were diverse in terms of their hydrogen feed stocks and use the total miles and state span and the size of the various projects next slide please these are a couple uh overall statistics for the Midwest hydrogen Hub so this Federal investment is up to $1 billion which will be matched by recipients to leverage billions of dollars to strengthen local economies create and maintain thousands of high quality jobs and SL harmful emissions that jeopardize public health and ecosystems the Midwest Hub plans to produce more than 1,000 metric tons per day of hydrogen from diverse and abundant enty sources including renewable wind energy natural gas and nuclear energy planned end uses include manufacturing steel and glass production power generation refining and heavy duty Transportation the Strategic location of the Hub in a key us industrial and transportation Corridor and the proposed development of transport and storage infrastructure including pipelines truck transportation gasas storage liquefaction liquid hydrogen distribution and storage and refueling stations have the potential to drive down the cost of hydrogen distribution and storage The Hub is also dedicated to ensuring benefits flow directly to impacting communities creating thousands of New Quality jobs reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 3.9 million metric tons per year and helping to improve air quality through avoided criteria pollutant emissions next slide please so this slide details Ed's robust project management oversight and this is done through a phased approach with a go noo point for each phase this means that a project must meet the agreed upon deliverables for that phase before they can unlock the next chunk of funding this ensures that taxpayer dollars are properly managed and I want to point out that the Midwest hydren Hub is currently at the start of phase one and only a portion of the funding has been awarded at this point so most of the money won't go out the door until phase three which is the construction phase phase which is several years down the road and the projects within this Hub can move through the phases on somewhat independent timelines um for phase one some of them could take up to 18 months to progress um I believe that is my last slide so um thank you I look forward to the questions in a moment and I'll turn it over to uel and James thank you Garrett um I just wanted to briefly mention that I'm actually a remote employee for osed so I live in work within the Midwest Hub region my family moved to Val preo Indiana in 2015 when I first moved here I worked for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission or nury serving Lake Porter and Lort counties so for me the Midwest hydrogen Hub is personal it was a major reason why I was drawn to oad living and working in Northwestern Indiana it's important to strike a balance between economic development and Environmental Protection and the Midwest hydrogen Hub is uniquely positioned to strengthen our economy and protect our environment I want to talk a little bit about some of the specific type of benefits that osed and Mach H2 are seeking to create in midwestern communities all Ed's programs including the hydrogen hubs program are required to have Community benefits plans or cbps cbps have four interdependent Parts First Community and labor engagement which seeks to involve those impacted in decisions that affect them second diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility or deia which seeks to help build a clean energy economy reflective of all Americans third investing in the American Workforce the focus of this is to help build the skilled long-term Workforce needed to power the energy transition and finally the justice 40 initiative which creates a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal Investments including those in clean energy like hydrogen flow into disadvantaged communities each hydrogen Hub was is required to develop a CVP to ensure that local communities and workers are engaged in these projects from the outset and receive concrete benefits and osed will provide robust project management and oversight of the plan implementation throughout the Project Life Cycle next slide strong Community benefit commitments or cbcs must have certain characteristics award's must go beyond a vision or assessment into including actionable goals outcomes and implementation steps supported by adequate money people and time resources the aity must include mechanisms of for accountability to and transparency with impacted communities and propose clear metrics to measure success proposed actions must align with the needs and priorities of impacted communities these commitments must demonstrate how the project design will minimize and mitigate negative impacts and harm especially to already overburdened communities they must have a plan for creating quality jobs Equitable access and investing in Workforce Development I want to reiterate that the CBC the cbps submitted at application have changed significantly Community benefits commitments are a living document and must evolve in response to community and worker feedback over time I also want to emphasize that Ed's role is oversight over cbcs osed might help facilitate some of the engagements but the recipient is going to be conducting most of the engagement next slide to give an update on the current status of the Midwest hydr Hub phase one has now been awarded so the Hub will begin to carry out the greed upon activities over the next 18 months phase one includes planning design and community and labor engagement activities each technology provider will be responsible for planning and development of their respective facilities while all Hub collaborators will contribute to community benefits activities negotiations over the phase 2 award will consider the status and quality of implementation during phase one including Community benefits commitments which will be updated to reflect key learnings and developments as Community feedback is collected and Incorporated Ed's funding actions are subject to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA and other requirements including the National Historic preservation Act and the endagered Species Act these projects are still very early on in the planning phase and we need your input to help shape the Hub and Community benefits commitments for these projects before we hear from Mach H2 I want to take some time to make sure that you know where our next engagement touch points will be as well as how to get in contact with us going forward next slide this slide shows you the path of Engagement from when a project applies to oset for competitive funding to when it is awarded and moves through the project management phases these hubs will take many years to come to fruition and will have to pass through several stages before any construction activities start we can't give specific timelines yet because each project within the Hub will be different and also because this can shift significantly as the projects progress we've listed concrete ways you can get involved here in Phase One including reaching out to the hub or doe directly and attending the virtual briefing let us know via email if you'd like to receive additional information about future local engagement plans engagement will be ongoing throughout all of these phases and one of Doe's oversight roles is to ensure that meaningful ongoing engagement continues regularly in each phase between each phase doe will assess the Project's progress including the quality of community benefits implementation and will make a decision about whether or not the project should receive additional funding and finally in addition to these mechanisms all hydrogen Hub projects are subject to NEPA which includes robust public participation processes these processes will occur during phases one and two next slide these briefings are just an early but important step in broadening engagement between doe the selectees and communities impacted by these projects information and details on all the Hub specific briefings is provided on our website this is Ed's fourth post awward Community briefing information about previous briefings including recordings and slides are available on the local engagement web page and information about future briefings will be posted there as applicable next slide you can also find the mch2 website at m2.com next slide these next two slides showcase just some of the resources doe has to offer regarding the Hy House program slides will be linked at the local engagement web page in the next couple days next we will pass it on to the award The Mach H2 team next slide thank you yeah thanks so much James uh and thanks for the The Mach 2 team we're uh happy to to congratulate you on reaching this phase one award Milestone uh oset is looking forward to continuing to work uh with the Hub team over the course of phase one which is expected the last up to 18 months uh as the Hub carries out planning analysis and design activities uh in addition to stakeholder and Community engagement uh across Illinois Indiana Iowa and Michigan uh this phase one is just the beginning of a much longer process the oset award amount for phase one is $22.2 million which is being matched with Hub investment for a total of 51.7 million estimated for phase one the total o said federal cost share amount over the life of the project uh subject to the phased management approach which was just uh described um has the potential to be up to $1 billion dollar with a hub cost share of at least uh that much um so now is the time for community members to get involved and help shape the project uh if they already haven't this is another opportunity to continue discussions that have already begun we want to use this time to uh familiarize everybody here with the Midwest hydrogen Hub uh as well as what they can do to be involved in engagement activities during phase one of the project um so let's start by talking about the proposed project plan at a high level um and I know we have uh Dorothy with us here uh Dorothy can you tell us a bit about uh mock to as an initiative and just provide us with an overview so let's just make sure Emanuel this time it's working right mic's working yes loud okay all right first off I just want to say we're very excited about the announce ment looking forward to working with those said and getting going um let me just talk a little bit about the Midwest Alliance for clean hydrogen as you said it is a multi-state Alliance it's public and private entities all joining together trying to grow a regional hyen value train if we look at this Alliance it includes clean hydrog or carbon- free energy producers National Labs leading universities hydrogen technology providers diverse hydrogen endusers that we'll talk about later across multiple sectors and then the community organizations that are so important that are all committed together and working together to try to work towards a carbon free economy okay thank you appreciate that overview um there have been some some questions already just about sort of uh the Technologies and the technical scope of of the Hub uh green versus blue versus pink and all types of different things coming in the comments already so I'm curious if you could just provide us with uh um the vision of the Hub in terms of Technology deployment so Garrett introduced a little of this already so the Midwest hydrogen Hub plans to rce more than a thousand metric tons of hydrogen a day clean hydrogen cost effectively at scale and we're going to leverage multiple energy sources that are local including as as he said renewable or green hydrogen natural gas with cation or blue hydrogen and nuclear nuclear energy which is pink so we got all three three different colors the other thing I guess I I'll say and thank you for changing the slide sorry um is that if you look at two the thing major emphasis the top two blocks that we have here major emphasis for the Hub one has to do with industrial heavy Industries there's a lot of Industry whether we're talking cement steel glass manufacturing in the Midwest and we believe this is a a significant opportunity to apply clean hydrogen the other areas what we aren't doing right now and at this time they're not part of it but there are areas that we think are obviously the Midwest is a great opportunity um has to do with um we are well I should that back we are going to do the heavy duty truck that's if you look at the if you look at the map and you'll see it later lots of the interstate lines cross over the whole Midwest so there's a lot of class eight heavyduty truck traffic in the region that we're looking at how can we decarbonize that um so that's going to be a big challenge we're also looking at buses so some of the other ones that are not included right now are the ones that you see at the bottom so whether or not you're talking about agriculture um you're talking about transport other Transportation like Aviation sustainable aviation fuel or even fuel cells for ground support equipment and then also marine and rail are opportunities so we believe that the Midwest is a it's just very rich when it comes to Opportunities where we could actually apply hydrogen economy there um it was mentioned already before if we decarbonize these sectors in the midwest we believe that you could reduce carbon emissions by approximately 3.9 million metric tons per year which is equivalent to the annual emissions of about 850,000 gasoline powered cars and again the end goal is to improve the air quality there so fantastic so there have been some questions already about some of the specifics related to to these projects um there have been you know some hydrogen projects that have been announced and been cancelled and things like that and we know that you know the Hub is an evolving effort so I'm curious about what you can say definitively at this point in time about the projects and the specific locations uh for the Hub sure well I'll take over from here thank you uh the Midwest hydrogen Hub is just determining the potential sighting options across the fort state region of illino Indiana uh Iowa and Michigan and we're also excited about the potential to expand this Hub over time to other Midwestern states and so uh the map that you can see uh shows the preliminary uh site locations for our nine proposed projects um and and note um these locations are are subject to change um but we do anticipate finalizing the preferred locations during phase one uh which Garrett um talked about earlier sort of this 12 to 18-month time frame I'll also note that Mach H2 and our project partners are really looking forward to uh what we expect to be final guidance from the United States Treasury Department on the hydrogen production tax credit and this is called the the 45v so really looking forward uh to that uh happening in in in short order so now I'm going to give a brief explanation of the envisioned activities um at these N9 project locations and I'll I'll start with with project number one and this is where constellation uh plans to construct a new electrolysis uh facility to produce clean hydrogen uh via proton exchange membrane or PM um this site number one would also include uh above ground storage for gaseous hydrogen at the same site uh end uses here could include hydrogen fuel cells uh liquefaction and distribution so that's project number one um I'll I'll move to project number nine because it's in very close Geographic proximity um but this project is with nikore energy Ventures or neev and neev through its affiliate nikore gas uh plans to construct about 25 miles of dedicated pipe to transport gaseous hydrogen um from the potential nuclear powered electrolysis uh production plant um so so project number one to end users uh in Lal County Illinois um in addition nikore energy Ventures plans to explore the potential uh need for on-site hydrogen blending infrastructure at the end user site to support industrial carbonization uh and of course this project is subject to to nikore gas working nikore energy Ventures working with the Illinois State Legislature and the Illinois Commerce Commission uh to enable um the regulated transport of of clean hydrogen U moving a little bit further west on the map uh you'll see project number three and this is uh inventery is evaluating constructing a new electrolysis facility collocated uh with air Le's potential liquefaction uh in the greater fton glinton kamanchi Riverfront Community the site would produce uh clean hydrogen via electrolysis powered by renewable electricity um and here air hydrogen lique liquefaction plant uh calls for above ground liquid hydrogen storage uh air also plans to work with Partners to construct two new hydrogen refueling stations and Dorothy touched on this there are a number of hydrogen refueling stations uh en Vision throughout the region and also uh to deploy at least 20 liquid hydrogen tank trailers and 50 hydrogen power heavyduty vehicles uh project number for so excuse me number three BP uh will evaluate constructing a new hydrogen production facility uh near the existing Whiting Refinery in Northwest Indiana and this project aims to produce clean hydrogen using Auto thermal Reformation of natural gas and renewable natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration um so depending on the consumer agreement the markting conditions the hydrogen would be used for power generation refining and Industrial fi stock steel production and distribution to and users uh including Mobility our next project uh GTI energy you can see um has actually has multiple projects in the greater Chicago land area and GTI is partnering with two industrial users to retrofit existing facilities um really to enable the transition from fossil fuels to clean hydrogen so retrofit uh plans here include installation of hen handling and blending equipment installing uh above ground hydrogen storage and retrofitting existing burners or other processes and so these modifications to the facility has potential to consume 40 or so metric tons per day of hydrogen uh GTI energy also is going to work with Transportation Partners to construct two new hydrogen refueling stations um to grow to more than 3.5 um metric tons of hydrogen per day and the and the the project would also coordinate with F uh private fleets to deploy at least uh five heavyduty class8 hydrogen powered trucks so across the state lines up in up Michigan we got some exciting projects up there the Michigan Department of environment Great Lakes and energy also known as Eagle uh aims to partner with the American Center for Mobility ACM uh to construct a new electrolysis uh facility in if salani Michigan so just west of Detroit uh the facility here is expected to produce clean hydrogen from renewable electric power um Eagle again the Michigan Department of environment Great Lakes and energy also plans to construct the hydrogen Truck Stop of the future in Detroit uh developing EST State of-the-art clean hydrogen refueling station with on-site hydrogen storage and the project uh aims to deploy uh 15 medium or heavyduty powered vehicles uh further north in Michigan we have the mass transit authority or MTA um and with funding under this Cooperative agreement MTA plans to explain expand the Grand Blanc alternative fuels facility in Grand Blanc Michigan uh to support conversion of its Fleet to hydrogen fuel cell electric buses MTA serves a 650 square mile rural Michigan jenese County and the City of Flint um so this facility expansion would really uh improve the clean hydrogen production via the proton exchange membrane electrolysis and also uh enable greater uh fueling capacity uh the project also calls for construction of a new hydrogen station with at least 3.4 metric tons of storage and deployment of at least one hydrogen powered bus outside of this project MTA also plans to deploy additional fuel cell electric buses our last project the Midwest hydrogen Corridor coalition mhcc plans to work with project Partners to identify at least two locations within the state of Indiana to develop hydrogen refilling infrastructure with dispensing capacity of at least two metric tons per day and I'll just note here in closing the project fact sheet on the osed website and I think the links have already been shared here uh does include um information about all of these nine projects thank you fantastic definitely appreciate the overview I want to ask quickly um just based on the the project shown could you provide an estimate of sort of the ratios of hydrogen by color so Emanuel that's a question that is yet to be answered as we work through phase one as we know at which you know production projects are certainly in we we hope and anticipate that all the production projects will will stay in the production projects come on at different times um the capacity the amount uh is to be determined yet based on consumer demand so so fluctuating uh sort of sort of influx right now Emanuel okay I can definitely understand that I appreciate it I want to shift gears quickly and uh just talk a bit about Community benefits uh commitments um so these are a key component of Ed's project management approach uh the process that they use and a key determinant of the hub's progression uh through the different phases of federal funding um as I think one of the questions had had mentioned too you know the uh the ability to progress is dependent on these Community benefit uh commitments um so we know that these are updated at the end of each phase to reflect key learnings and developments as the project continues to grow and specifically as Community feedback is collected and incorporated as well so these commitments aim to mitigate potential impacts of the Hub uh and maximize local community benefits uh Mach H2 has set strong commitments uh related to Doe's core uh four different uh policy priorities um with were described earlier um and that are a part of the community benefits plan so I'd like to go through each of those four different categories uh and talk about them one by one uh and so to begin let's start with a community and labor engagement an area that we've already received a few questions about um and Elizabeth thank you for being with us I'm wondering what you can share about the hub's commitments related to community and labor engagement thanks so much Emanuel and thanks for moving ahead with the next slide I was going to ask for the next slide so the mock AG to CBP team is preparing to launch community engagement activities within phase one we continue to identify stakeholders across and near proposed project sites to ensure that all key stakeholders are aware of Engagement opportunities moving forward we we certainly share Ed's commitment to the principles that you had just laid out Emanuel thank you very much um and that James talked about earlier and I'm going to start with the community advisory mechanisms because they're a really a key part of this equation so the community advisory mechanisms are planned to be developed at both the Hub and project level and they're intended to Foster meaningful participation of impacted communities and stakeholders now at the Hub level a community benefits working group will advise Mach H2S management team and its board on matters that are related to um but also to help the Hub meet goals around job quality energy Equity environmental justice goals these include things such as robust Workforce Development uh employment opportunities through mechanisms such as registered apprenticeships pre apprenticeship programs thinking about safety preparedness response as well maximizing those benefits and Min minimizing any negative impacts for communities and of course importantly is going to be the public data sharing across different projects Community Lea will be launching advisory councils number two on this slide these will ensure local priorities inform the Midwest hyren hub's project goals and activities specifically within phase one each project sponsor will lead or participate within mock H2S Community advisory councils which will have Charters that defines their purpose roles and expectations for members and that decision-making process as well so these activities for the the um um the community advisory councils will include things such as engaging with communities that are relevant to the project including emergency responders and fence line communities around education and awareness of the benefits of clean hydrogen sharing local knowledge and experiences and input on community priorities we want to hear from these communities so that we can also share benefits and mitigation measures that are being considered by the project themselves we want to be able to partner with educational training labor Partners minority serving institutions and we want to share project scope impacts with Community stakeholders and partners for each of the projects so those Community advisory counselors are going to be key for that engagement process the community Liaisons will plan to conduct two-way engagement with key stakeholders through various methods and our goal is to have tangible outcomes engagement methods may include things such as facilitated um sessions virtual Town Halls online surveys online open houses streaming of live meetings and social media dialogue among many others project related information and engagement events will be regularly updated on the Mach H2S website as well so that way we're sharing information as best as possible M shu is also pursuing a public platform form it's a data sharing platform that will provide a mechanism for all stakeholders to be informed of upcoming engagement events they can view project performance metrics provide feedback and participate in surveys and polls in phase one though this platform in combination with our community benefits website will include things such as basic project information once those are determined information about Community advisory mechanisms recommendations respond and project status updates as well so there's a lot coming up we you know we we haven't gotten started we're looking forward to really getting started thanks Emanuel fantastic so from what I'm hearing and and I want to reiterate because there were a number of questions on this it sounds like the community benefits plan the metrics progress the intention is to make all of these things available on a public website where folks can go to to find all that information well the the data sharing platform I want to be clear is an phase one end goal so there's going to be a lot more as part of that however we have other means of of sharing information so um that's why it's important for us to engage with as many stakeholders as possible we have our website we have social media as well and we do have our connections and we are working across the the different states to ensure that stakeholders are part of this process okay great thank you I appreciate that glorification um I want to talk a bit about um the the the community benefits uh commitments right and so we have these commitments and know there's a desire to move towards more concrete uh agreements and I'm wondering if you can uh talk a bit about the efforts that are being made to to move in that direction absolutely so the community leaon which I mentioned earlier for each of the projects Plus will'll have some Community labor engagement leads across the different region um they're going to work with the stakeholders and the production site team site project teams as well as the community advisory Council specific to the hub during phase one to craft negotiate and progress through executing developing executing impactful and binding Community benefits agreements and so those are going to be specific to to those project sites now on the other hand we have constellation we have um Eagle if you remember all the projects that that Neil went through MTA nikore GTI mhcc invenergy air Leed they are also going to pursue and negotiate towards Workforce agreements or leverage any existing applicable agreements prior to construction which we know is phase three to ensure that sufficiently skilled and trained Workforce will be ready and available so that all of the project sponsors are committed to these actions in phase one fantastic that that sounds great I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about some of the impacts that you're expecting then from the the Labor uh perspective uh and how you're working to create uh quality in jobs and invest in the local Workforce absolutely that's it's a really pivotal and important Central foundational part of our Hub Mach H2 is anticipating creating 12,000 jobs in construction and permanent operations over the Project's lifetime so we're talking across four phases and we're going to use an approach to Workforce Development that will be shared by input from collaboration with labor and Workforce Development organizations as well as other relevant stakeholders so initially this approach will include things such as removing barriers to job and Workforce Development opportunities recruiting and training that focuses on underrepresented groups and underserved communities providing quality jobs that provide benefits learning and advancement opportunities ensuring that we have wraparound services that will overcome challenges with participating in training things such as child care and transportation upgrading basic skills to make workers eligible for higher paying jobs establishing commitments to diversity Equity inclusion accessibility commitments to job safety to structured education and advancement opportunities for all workers in Phase One Mach H2 is also going to Define initial plans for health and safety committees for workers retention and advancement strategies and as well as continue to develop Workforce Education and Training Partnerships in collaboration with labor organizations thank youel absolutely okay I am noticing the time so we're going to try to try to move quickly we still have two more aspects of the CBP that I think are important to discuss explicitly um so I want to talk a bit about justice 40 uh and in particular there are many questions that have come in um wanting to better understand Mach H2S uh j40 commitments and also specifically if you could touch on this um you know how those will endure you know just given a potential change in administration um so we want to understand what the plan is and and what that's going to look like in the future if you could help us to to better understand thank you so Mach h 2's Equity Justice office will oversee the implement mentation of justice 40 initiatives tracking them measuring them reporting the data across all of the community benefits um commitments to ensure that mock H2 as a hub continued commitment is promoting shared prosperity and minimizing any negative impacts to those marginalized communities during phase one we're going to update our initial j40 assessment and Implement implementation strategy so that we can estimate potential benefits and identify potential monitoring and mitigation strategies including issues for like water use air quality hydrogen safety environmental impacts of clean hydrogen construction impacts such as noise traffic congestion environmental impacts and emergency response The Hub will also seek input from Community advisory mechanisms on the initial assessment and implementation strategy these are all part of phase one and regardless of administration change this is these are the things that we are committed to in phase one that is very helpful to hear uh and to better understand um can you also talk just a bit about uh commitments related to diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility um and sort of under the same circumstances as well absolutely I know this is a big question for everyone so um The Hub will agree to deia goals and develop a strategy for entrepreneurship um program we are very much focused on economic opportunities that go beyond beyond the traditional approach and so for us our entrepreneurship program is is key to this to deia success the stakeholders that are engaged by the equity Justice office at the Hub level will include minority serving institutions historically black black colleges and universities minority Chambers of Commerce disadvantaged business Enterprise offices as well as civil rights organizations and faith-based organizations The Hub will establish Partnerships with these organizations to support two-way engagement with local communities and to meet Workforce Development objectives I also just quickly want to mention our tribal engagement efforts m2's community and labor engagement team will work with doe to to develop tribe tribal specific plan we'll work with doe to develop an appropriate approach that honors tribal sovereignty while incorporating tribal goals and concerns into project plans so hopefully that that gives a a brief overview of what we plan for the Dei thank you Emanuel absolutely I definitely appreciate it um and thank you for taking time to answer these questions and to provide this overview we're going to move as quickly as we can into the Q&A uh portion of the agenda so I'm going to ask S next slide and maybe one more we have our ground roles yes okay so uh as many of you have seen there are lots of questions that have come through already we greatly appreciate it um so please continue to submit questions in the Q&A we'll try to answer as many as we can if we're not able to answer them all which is likely given the timing we at least want to have those questions and all of the thumbs up documented I think it's really important uh feedback for osed and for the project team as well so if you have more questions even if we can't get to them please feel free to submit them that's very useful um in terms of uh ground rules here say be respectful we just don't want any inflammatory or like violent language and personal attacks and things like that and from reading the question so far you all have been great and really appreciate the quality and the depth of the uh the engagement here um we're going to go ahead and jump in and so I'm going to invite all of our past speakers to turn uh video on at this point in time we're going to unmute just one at a time though just to make sure that the line stays open for our interpreters appreciate that I'm going to try to jump in with as many questions as we can and we'll take a look at some of the priority here so there have been and and to be clear too I'm going to try to summarize and maybe group some questions together um so I may not be able to address all of these questions verbatim but I'll try do my best to represent the the questions that have been asked um so there have been a number of questions that were asked related to engagement um there's been mentioned of advisory groups uh and Community boards and things of that nature folks are interested in better understanding um how they can engage um what is the process for joining and also what what type of actual power will the community groups have do they have the ability to say yes or no to major aspects of the project uh and if there's Community opposition and that's clear from the mechanisms that you all create um then then what happens at that point with regards to the overall effort in the sub projects so I know that's a lot and uh hoping we can get some some clarity there okay M I think that question is geared toward me so I will I will go ahead and Jump Right In it was a very loaded question so I'll try I'll try and remember all the points that you got to um but I want to start with that Mach H2 is committed to transparency our Hub is is dedicated to a robust Community engagement process that will include things such as Community Town Halls focus groups Project Specific facilitated sessions among many other opportunities those are all going to be developed during phase one um so during the application process we had set forth um some ideas but right now we are in the middle of or just starting phase one and so individuals and organizations have not missed out on any engagement opportunities at this point um as I mentioned earlier we're going to have the community benefits advisory committee that will provide strategic advice and stakeholder input um to mock H2 leadership and project sponsors and this is going to be led by a panel of community leaders across the region um they will have working groups task forces subcommittees that will be established to support the advisory committee and Mach H2 program leads as well then we will have Community advisory councils at the project level so those will be Community forums that are established for each each of the mock H2 projects to ensure that local perspectives and priorities are the basis for mock H2 project goals and activities and as I mentioned there's going to be a lot of opportunities moving forward inperson and virtual Town Halls focus groups so that we can not only share with you some of the updates but also to hear back from you as well on on progress we realize that Mutual success really requires building that relationship and having accountability with community labor tribal and other stakeholder groups across the project areas so we're really looking forward to this it's a complex undertaking um with potential project locations across many states more than 30 counties with over 1200 communities we are developing hwi accountability measures and mechanisms and processes to ensure that our projects will include relevant and diverse stakeholders in decision-making opportunities themselves so yes the goal is for there to be some decision making within those Community advisory councils okay so I think that's helpful to to understand some of the mechanisms at a hub level Project Specific level uh local engagement that's really useful you mentioned this commitment to uh to transparency uh there have been you know some notes Here uh about the information that's been exchanged between osed and the Hub um the full application the full version of the CDP uh you also mentioned that it'll take some time as you know phase one is looking to develop uh some of the the tools that'll share information with the community uh in the meantime uh what level of information should community members expect to receive uh and so what are the the mechanisms for for getting that information out absolutely that's you know it's a question that is important and we want to make sure that we're addressing it for all the all the people that are here for us right now um so there's across the nine projects the community advisory mechanism are going to be the best option when it comes to a project level and those are going to be developed over the course of phase one so these do not exist yet or if they do exist they're not related to the these projects specifically and so we want to ensure that um community members other local stakeholders are going to be a part of this process so by the end of phase one we're going to have a better sense of of how the community advisory councils will be incorporated into the project decision-making and that will be something that um the the local stakeholders will have um an input input into and so we're going to also develop a way to focus on engaging those local communities I know it's phase one people have been saying that the the conversation has not been happening well we're finally here and we're ready to have um those conversations we realize that Mutual success requires building those relationships and accountability and we're looking forward to working with all of them we do have a community benefits email we have our website we have social media those are the best ways to engage with us currently until we move forward with our community advisory mechanisms yeah I was happy to hear you mention email I think a list serve was something that was suggested in the comments as well I think there's an interest by folks in seeing that you know it's not just on them to come to the website to be able to get information but to know that information is being pushed out intentionally uh to to those who are interested as well so definitely appreciate that um there there's been questions about um just Workforce uh uh impacts as well um there's there's a note that uh in some of the information that is available around the projects it doesn't seem that all um companies that are involved have made the same level of commitments when it in relation to uh labor negotiations and Workforce agreements and so you've expressed this commitment at the Hub level and I'm curious about whether or not that rolls down to all of the project part ERS and um sub project participants what can you say about uh sort of the overall level dedication and bringing everybody on board in terms of uh labor agreements and Workforce impacts I can go ahead and start that meal if you'd like um so labor is an important consideration um practices and engagement will vary across the projects themselves but we are moving forward under doe parameters and um and in Partnership so all partners have committed to Quality jobs Workforce Development opportunities and ensuring that they have successful training and Workforce in place Neil did you want to add to that the great job Elizabeth the only thing I would say is I think the Workforce Development piece is really really important because we talk about 12,000 you know construction and permanent jobs coming online we're not ready to hire our project partners aren't ready to hire today but those those jobs are coming and so it's important that we partner with community colleges trade schools universities so that we can train and equip uh workers now so that when those jobs become available we have qualified applicants and we can we can make a match there definitely appreciate that I know our time is limited here I do want to try to talk a bit about some of the technology concerns um that were brought up there were a number of questions just related about potential water impacts and understanding water as as a necessary component of this particular energy strategy strategy can you talk a bit about potential water impacts how they're being managed and mitigated and and what the plan is from the hub's perspective sure I can I can take that so with respect to the production of the hydrogen molecules again there's different ways to produce hydrogen but one of the ways is you take water H2O and you do the electrolysis um you know to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen and so of course the raw input into that is is water we've done some preliminary studies we've looked at the impact and it's actually minimal we're very fortunate in the in the midwest um that we have ample clean uh water so we want to take advantage of that builtin we know that that is not the case in other parts of the country and other parts of the world um but we're really you know already on top of this and and confident that there will not be a significant negative impact um from the water uh Supply with respect to producing clean hydrogen there's a question from the from the energy point of view as well um folks are curious just related to the use of renewable energy you know there's an approach that says we're going to use whatever energy is available from the grid dep regardless of how clean it is and then we'll just buy the Rex we'll buy the renewable energy credits and everything will balance versus you know we're going to make the commitment to using renewable energy when it's available uh to to power our processes can you speak a bit about the approaches that you anticipate will be taken by the projects in the hub so you know whatever say is we are taking an all of the above Pro approach with respect to the production of the hydrogen molecules again we have some projects that rely on electrolysis um and those electrolyzers can be powered from from different sources in one instances we know propose to use nuclear power um in another we you know propose to eventually use Renewable Power um another production process involves um natural gas as an input so different um you know sort of different inputs um and but the but the the output is the same you know we're producing uh clean hydrogen I will say we're we're of course fans and proponents of renewable energy we'd like to see more and more renewable energy uh built out uh across the Midwest um you know and and so we we encourage that um um you know really um you know like to see again a variety of inputs as well as outputs but really to generate uh clean hydrogen anual okay I'm going to try to sneak in two more questions I know we're almost out of time now the first is obviously we weren't able to cover all the questions from the community members so um Can can the Hub commit to following up with the community and addressing the the unanswered questions and if so what exactly would that look like how how would you go about doing that so I think we'll have um we will continue to have uh Town Halls we've had you know a series of of town halls several you have attended those um we've had you know one-on-one meetings I know you know Elizabeth and Dorothy and I have had meetings uh we will continue to do that um in the new year and and going forward uh I don't know Elizabeth Dorothy if you have other things you'd like to add to that well and I I'll agree with that I think that one of the things we do is we need one of what kind of brainstorm what's the best way to get it out there but we can commit to go through the questions look at the different questions and figure out what is the best pathway for us maybe it's things that we can post or maybe there's things that we literally do a followup as you said with the town hall and and just answer some of the questions or we actually put something out as far as they push out an email and things but let let us take the first step as we'll take we'll go together with osed and get the questions and things and then again you've already started vending some of them in different topics but we'll look at those and try to get those responses out I can't give you a date exactly what the holiday is coming but but we'll work on that try to get that out and it may be it'll stepwise me we'll do it multiple thingses all right thank you I don't get yanked away here but uh before ahead just want to ask because there a questions come up many many times um you know uh j40 deia many of these were Biden Administration priorities and you know it's obvious we're going to have an Administration change and folks are wondering uh to what extent that's going to impact the future of these projects so it'd be great perhaps if we could hear from the osed team quickly um just about the the plan moving forward yeah um definitely understand uh the interest in understanding that I think you know o had is commitment to falling through with our mission you know a lot of these requirements are codified in both you know our operating procedures in the bipar infrastructure law and EDS procedures as well as the you know our contract that we have our Cooperative agreement that was established between us and midis hydren hub so those are part of everything they're baked into it um and I saw some questions about uh you know funding and what that may mean and so uh the funding for the hubs comes for the bipar infrastructure law so that's an act of Congress and so that can always change but it requires an act of Congress to do something like that and so um you know osad is just commit committed to you know working with the transition team as they come in to have you know an efficient transition so we can keep getting the work done um and working with Miz hydrogen Hub according um and just foll through mission on both you know to achieve clean hydrogen and to do it equitably thank you Garrett I want to be respectful of everyone's time and I know that you know we are uh at 2 o'clock now so thank you so much to our presenters thank you so much to everyone who asked uh questions and volunteered your perspective as well um at this point I want to turn things back over to James who will close us out but thanks again to to everyone who participated thank you Emanuel um I want to thank everyone uh for attending today although that's all the time we have for questions we want to thank you for your interest um and for more information or additional questions or comments you can reach to us through the resources that we provided here in the chat uh so thank you so much and we'll see you next time [Music]