Greenwashing California utilities want to pipe dangerous hydrogen into homes – have your voice heard!

Stop Hydrogen Blending Pilots

Assigned Commissioner Houck and members of the Public Utilities Commission, I am writing regarding Proceeding A.22-09-006 to voice my opposition to the proposed hydrogen blending pilots across the state of California. Hydrogen blending risks increasing explosions, leaks, and health-harming nitrogen oxide pollution (NOx). Utilities shouldn’t put their customers at risk by pursuing any blending experiments when we know electrification is a far safer, cheaper, more energy efficient way to decarbonize our buildings. The health and safety impacts of hydrogen blending cannot be understated. Hydrogen is more susceptible to leakage than “natural” methane gas, and can be ignited more easily. A study from the United Kingdom found that if hydrogen were used in homes to completely replace methane gas, the annual predicted number of explosions would more than quadruple. Burning blends of hydrogen and methane can increase the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) compared to burning methane alone by up to six times. NOx exposure can cause serious health effects, including asthma and increased chance of respiratory infections; NOx is also a precursor to particulate matter and ozone, which harm the respiratory system. These increased impacts will disproportionately fall on people from historically marginalized backgrounds, who are more likely to live in rental housing with older and inadequately ventilated gas stoves that result in higher levels of indoor air pollution. Studies show that the use of methane gas-powered appliances already greatly impacts indoor and outdoor air quality: Children that grow up in a home with a gas stove have a 42% greater risk of developing asthmatic symptoms and nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases in the United States can be linked to having a gas stove in the home. Hydrogen blending is expected to increase these impacts. Hydrogen blending in homes and buildings not only poses real health and safety risks to communities, but does little or nothing to reduce the climate pollution associated with the gas system. Instead, gas companies facing declining business revenues promote hydrogen blending as a way to maintain dependence on the gas system and delay electrification. Simply put, blending hydrogen into gas for home heating and cooking is not a climate solution. It is concerning that gas utilities are making significant investments into hydrogen blending, which can never make more than a small dent in the gas system’s colossal climate pollution, when there is an affordable, efficient, and widely-available alternative for decarbonizing homes and buildings: electrification with high efficiency heat pump technology. Instead of moving forward with hydrogen blending and the risk it poses to the public, gas utilities must instead invest in targeted efforts to transition homes and buildings off of methane gas altogether in order to meet local and state climate goals and policies. As our communities face a dual-crisis from climate change and strains on affordability, we need to focus on proven climate solutions, not greenwashing boondoggles. We should not allow gas utilities to charge ratepayers over $200 million to conduct risky hydrogen blending experiments that won’t lead to real climate solutions. Please reject these irresponsible and ill-advised projects. Thank you for your consideration.