President George W. Bush's state of the union speech to Congress last month highlighted what the White House says is a key domestic policy issue: reducing foreign oil dependence.
Underscoring that goal is a White House plan to fund a $1.2 billion, 5-year hydrogen research plan dubbed "Freedom Fuel" (OGJ Online, Jan. 29, 2003). White House officials say that if hydrogen power is developed to its full potential, US oil demand could fall by over 11 million b/d by 2040.
The White House's hydrogen initiative has been largely lauded by industry; they say it is forward-thinking and practical. Most mainstream environmental groups, however, say policymakers should take more immediate steps to control increasing gasoline consumption, such as higher automobile fuel efficiency standards.
Green complaints
"The president's plan won't help us achieve energy independence," said Daniel Becker, director of the global warming and energy program at the Sierra Club. "It doesn't guarantee that a single fuel cell car goes on the market, it uses polluting forms of energy to produce hydrogen, and it helps avoid implementing fuel-efficiency measures available now that really could reduce our oil dependence. Hydrogen fuel cells will play a key role in a clean energy future, but the president's plan won't get us there," he said.
Other critics of the president's plan included natural gas vehicle interests, which want more money to expand existing alternative-fuel refueling infrastructures.
"Unfortunately, his recommendations to Congress fall far short of what is needed," said Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition Pres. Richard Kolodziej.
The White House's Freedom Fuel budget request for fiscal year 2004 is $273 million.
Oil role
Environmentalists also sharply criticized a presentation made by ExxonMobil Corp. to House Energy and Commerce Committee staff. Frank O'Donnell of the Clean Air Trust argued that the supermajor was being duplicitous when the company allegedly told staff that it supports hydrogen fuels, but then warned them the fuel is too expensive and not safe.
"While ExxonMobil publicly bills itself to be working on ways to clean up the air and lessen oil dependence, the energy giant is also telling Congress that hydrogen is a bad idea. As such, the company appears to endorse the notion of gasoline-based fuel cells—using gasoline as a fuel, then converting that to be used by a fuel-cell engine by equipment on the car itself or at a gas pump—but its actions suggest it aims to suppress rapid development of alternative energy."
ExxonMobil officials said their presentation was a long-range forecast of world energy demand, by fuel type, over a 20-year period (see related story, p. 29). They said that hydrogen comprised a "small portion" of the presentation, about which questions were raised by staff during their presentation. The company said, "Overall, it believes hydrogen-related technology shows promise, but significant issues, including safety and costs, must be resolved before it is a viable market alternative."
