Hydrogen threatens to drive wedge between Democrats, climate activists

After U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm met with grassroots organizers in Brooklyn in June, the leader of Latino community organization UPROSE was optimistic about the Biden administration's outreach to citizens on climate policy. However, the community leader expressed concerns over one of the administration's energy policy priorities: harnessing the potential of hydrogen coupled with carbon capture and sequestration.

Hydrogen derived from fossil fuels and the supporting technology are "false solutions" in the view of UPROSE Executive Director Elizabeth Yeampierre. The efforts would benefit big corporations at the expense of communities of color like hers in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. "They haven't even been able to show that these interventions work," Yeampierre said in an interview after the meeting. "But what we do know for certain is that they don't produce the benefit that is necessary for climate change, and they harm our communities."

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Uprose Executive Director Elizabeth Yeampierre said she felt positive about Granholm's attention to place-based solutions developed by local leadership. "That's all really promising, and that's something that we're hoping will be part of how DOE moves forward with our communities," she said in an interview.

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Environmental justice is an important part of addressing climate change, which cannot leave out communities that are on the front lines of climate change impacts like sea level rise, said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director at New York based community organization UPROSE.

"I don't want to be put in the back of the climate bus," she said.