Biden's Green Hydrogen Plan Bumps Into Climate Obstacle

The climate agenda of US President Joe Biden’s administration is facing an unexpected challenge in drought-prone Corpus Christi, Texas, where a proposed clean hydrogen hub would require the installation of energy-intensive, expensive and potentially environmentally damaging seawater desalination plants.
The Gulf Coast port is in the running for up to $1 billion available under President Joe Biden's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create a regional hub to produce hydrogen, a low-emissions fuel made by electrolyzing water that can help decarbonize heavy-emitting industries and transportation, Reuters reported.
A hydrogen hub would require access to millions of gallons of water – a challenge in Corpus Christi which is experiencing a multi-year drought.
While local officials say they can provide that water by constructing a seawater desalination plant, environmental groups and some local residents and lawmakers are lining up to oppose desalination sites.
"It makes no sense to create a purported clean energy source that in turn destroys an entire ecosystem, threatens other economies reliant upon a healthy bay system and usurps the water supply for residents," the Coastal Alliance to Protect the Environment, a Corpus Christi activist group, wrote in a letter to US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, shared with Reuters.