Hydrogen energy of tomorrow will rely on
natural gas supply of today
By Congressman John E. Peterson
June 2006
With only a single solitary electron orbiting a lonely proton to its credit, the hydrogen atom, in all its glory, represents the simplest form of integrated matter our universe has to offer.
For that it has earned two distinct honors: 1) the coveted top spot on Mendeleev’s table of elements, and 2) near-universal recognition from scientists and my colleagues in Washington alike as the simplest and most attainable alternative energy solution of the future. Some see it as the antidote to rising oil and gas prices at home, others cite its development as the key to lessening our dependence on unfriendly areas abroad for the energy needed to run our nation. The president, for his part, sees it as the fuel that will power a fleet of affordable, hydrogen-burning cars by 2020.
As a stable, inexhaustible, and near-emissions-free resource, it’s no wonder why hydrogen has become a central figure in the current Washington energy debate. But in that conversation, filled with all the fantastical things soon to be accomplished by harnessing its near-limitless power, I’ve noticed not a whole lot has been said about how, exactly, we plan on harnessing the element itself.
You may be surprised to know the answer, at least in the near-term, is natural gas.
To understand why this is true, first you have to understand a unique property of hydrogen: It hates to be alone. In fact, hydrogen is one of the only elements on Earth that doesn’t exist naturally without a companion. In order to get it, we can’t just reach out and grab it – we need to produce it from hydrogen-containing materials. And that itself takes energy.
One such hydrogen-containing material happens to be natural gas, which is made up almost entirely of hydrogen atoms snug tightly with carbon. Another is water. The prospect of isolating hydrogen in water and cultivating it into a fuel-grade product has gotten many of us excited – and rightly so. But as it is right now, it takes much more energy to start the reaction than the end process actually yields itself.
Chemists tell me that someday that won’t be the case – someday, I’m told, technology and solar energy will allow us to get much more out of the process than we do today. But someday is not today. In the meantime we will need the hydrogen latent in natural gas to build the bridge to the alternative energy future in which we all want to live.
Luckily, we have the technology to start building that bridge today. What we don’t have is a stable, affordable natural gas supply that could, given a sensible national energy strategy, serve as our foundation.
And for that, there is plenty of blame to go around.
First stop: Congress, circa 1981. In what was meant to be a temporary freeze on offshore activities while experts evaluated the safety conditions of ocean energy exploration, Congress passed a rider amendment on an appropriations bill forbidding the Interior Department from spending a dime on offshore leasing activities – a round-about, under-handed, but ultimately effective means of cutting off access to natural gas in federal waters far from shore. That ban not only persists today, but it has been permanently woven into the fabric of the Interior appropriations bill. I tried to take a needle and thread to the provision in committee, and, with the help of my colleagues, I was successful in modifying the 25-year-old ban to exempt the safe production of natural gas. But the prohibition was later reinstated on the House floor in what turned out to be a very close vote.
Lifting the offshore moratorium on natural gas production would have been a great first step toward having a genuine discussion about the safety, feasibility, and necessity of domestic energy production. But even if my language had passed, the existing presidential moratorium – slapped on by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 – would have remained intact. That interdiction, which largely overlaps the congressional moratorium, was extended by President Clinton and will not expire until 2012.
So here we are today: A full 85 percent of our offshore energy tracts, referred to as the Outer Continental Shelf, are under lock-and-key, putting out-of-bounds trillions and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that could – could – be used to cultivate hydrogen in the near future, and keep our homes warm and American businesses competitive in the present.
But our loss is our competitors’ gain. Right now Canadian companies are drilling for oil off the coast of Maine, and producing natural gas in Lake Erie. Fidel Castro’s Cuban government has dropped wells only 45 miles from Florida, and has invited its friends from Spain, Norway, and even China to come down and enjoy.
Indeed, sooner rather than later we will have state-run Chinese firms producing energy in the southern Gulf of Mexico while we continue to squabble over whether we should allow ourselves similar access. I know what they say about keeping your friends close and enemies closer, but this is, if I may say, starting to get a little ridiculous.
Ultimately, it’s in our country’s best interest to produce as much energy at home as possible. The law of supply and demand tells us that increasing the supply of natural gas will lower the price, and the law of commonsense tells us that a lower price will go a long way toward helping kick-start our national hydrogen agenda into full gear. From there we will need a combination of technological advances and investments in a hydrogen energy infrastructure if we’re to be successful. But before any of that can happen, we need access to domestic supplies of natural gas. And we need them right now.
John E. Peterson is a member of Congress representing the Fifth District of Pennsylvania. He is co-chairman of the Congressional Rural Caucus, and serves on both the House Appropriations and Resources Committees.
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