Heinrich, Luján, Fernández Push Biden Administration To Prioritize Hydrogen Economy, Job Opportunities In NM

CONGRESSIONAL News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) are calling on the Biden administration to help make the state of New Mexico the world’s premier center of excellence for clean hydrogen production, research, and workforce development.

President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes an investment in 15 decarbonized hydrogen demonstration projects in distressed communities, along with a new production tax credit like the one proposed in Senator Heinrich’s Clean Hydrogen Production Incentives Act of 2021.

In a new letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Senators Heinrich and Luján and Representative Leger Fernández highlighted New Mexico’s unique strengths and potential to host clean hydrogen energy development, writing, “New Mexico has a combination of outstanding attributes that make it uniquely suited to serve as the powerhouse of the nation’s emerging clean hydrogen economy, which is already attracting significant attention and investments from industry.”

From abundant wind, solar, and geothermal energy that facilitate zero-emission hydrogen production to the state’s outstanding research universities and national laboratories – New Mexico is ideally positioned to grow a powerhouse hydrogen economy, producing jobs across the state.

The lawmakers wrote, “Private industry is already at work developing several forms of hydrogen production in Northwest New Mexico, and the addition of a robust federal investment will drive this important momentum forward.”

The lawmakers added, “The San Juan Basin’s and Navajo Nation’s history of fossil fuel production has created a skilled, diverse energy workforce with a proud tradition of powering our nation’s economy. Strong and proven energy programs at the area’s educational institutions, like the San Juan College School of Energy, are ready to convert federal investment into workers ready to hold good-paying hydrogen jobs and contribute to the nation’s clean energy transition.”

Senators Heinrich and Luján and Representative Leger Fernández also pointed to southern New Mexico, which is attracting solar and hydrogen developers, and southeastern New Mexico’s Permian Basin, which boasts some of the nation’s strongest existing energy infrastructure and workforce, as promising areas for clean hydrogen development whose economies stand ready to expand, diversify, and grow.

“As we work to invest in our nation’s infrastructure, rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions, advance economic equity, and build back better, we urge you to consider New Mexico a strategic center of America’s emerging clean hydrogen economy, one that will position the United States to compete in the growing hydrogen economy worldwide,” the lawmakers concluded.

Read the full text of the letter here.

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