IRS 45V public hearing

IRS 45V public hearing

Telephone Testimony:

Good afternoon, my name is Naomi Yoder. I'm a GIS Data Analyst and science communicator for the Bullard Center on Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony at this IRS 45V public hearing held on March 27, 2024.

I’d like to thank the IRS for holding these hearings to solicit feedback from the people.  And I advocate to the agency that you listen to the tens of thousands of voices coming from people that are urging caution.  On top of that, the IRS has not made a significant effort to reach out to people who are most heavily affected by climate change, nor has the agency made this hearing accessible to working class people.  This must be remedied for the IRS to move forward with 45V.  The IRS must hear comments from people that are impacted the most by fossil fuel industry pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  Then the IRS must take those comments especially into account, and must be willing to change course as a result.  As a federal agency, the IRS has a responsibility to enact the Environmental Justice executive orders issued by President Biden and previous administrations.

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In 1994, Executive Order 12898 on EJ was issued.  It stated that,

‍“To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, and consistent with the principles set forth in the report on the National Performance Review, each Federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the United States…”‍

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Then Executive Order 14008 issued in 2021, Sec 219 says:

“To secure an equitable economic future, the United States must ensure that environmental and economic justice are key considerations in how we govern.”

My boss Dr. Robert Bullard helped to craft the 17 principles of EJ at the 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.  Principle Number 7 states: “Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.”  The people that are most impacted by climate change and environmental issues like pollution are people of color, people with low income and generational wealth, and socially vulnerable people like the unhoused.  So far, I don’t see those voices being prioritized by the IRS or any of the hydrogen industry proponents.  This hearing itself was noticed as March 25th.  We recently learned that there would be telephone sessions on the 26th and 27th.  So anyone who had blocked off the 25th but couldn’t testify in person, was suddenly moved to another day when they might not have had the luxury of just rearranging their schedule, as I did.  There was no new public notice for the new sessions, and all of the sessions are held during the business day.  There is a severe disadvantage to anyone who might not have the ability to attend.

I’ve listened to some of the hearings already and I’ve heard little-to-nothing regarding environmental justice.  The simple fact is that hydrogen cannot be a climate solution if it does not involve justice.  All of our climate solutions must center justice at the core of the solution and it’s implementation.  That is not happening with 45V, and the IRS must revise the process to include justice and inclusion from polluted and climate-beleaguered communities.  

I want to give an example. The Exxon Baytown Olefins Plastics terminal in the Houston Ship Channel is one of the largest petrochemical facilities in the world by area and production.  It is also one of the most egregious polluters.  Communities up and down the Houston Ship Channel are examples of environmental and climate injustice.  Exxon Baytown is set to receive over $300 million in funding from the Department of Energy for hydrogen production on-site.  Yet the facility has violated it’s air permits under the Clean Air Act TWENTY-FIVE times in the past five years alone.  Exxon and DOE say that the hydrogen project will “reduce GHG emissions”.  But by my calculations, this is some creative math.  There is no proof that Exxon Baytown will address any of the other three point-source pollution permits on site of the chemical complex.  There is also no proof that the emissions to create the hydrogen in the first place is included in the emissions calculation for the facility’s reductions.  In addition to that, Exxon Baytown is planning to implement a chemical recycling facility at the complex – also known as “plastic burning”.  This dirty waste processing method is not actually recycling; it’s a polluting mess.  There doesn’t seem to be any accounting for the increase in pollutants that will come from an increase in plastic burning, in the GHGs reduction equation.  Finally, this area has for years been found to be in SEVERE non-attainment for ozone pollution.  That means that ozone levels are well over the levels that are safe, on a regular basis, in this area.  Yet Exxon Baytown’s hydrogen project would not reduce the emissions that lead to ozone formation, which is also a greenhouse gas.  So when we hear this purported good news that the hydrogen project would “decrease emissions”, we find that in fact, the decrease in emissions is just a small piece of the greenhouse gas emissions from the whole facility.  This is a case of the math equation seemingly created to justify the statement, as opposed to the other way around.  The Department of Treasury must make absolutely sure that no such loopholes are allowed for 45V.

Bulletproof steps must be taken to ensure that green, grid-connected hydrogen (that is, hydrogen made from renewables where the energy comes out of the grid) does not displace renewables in the grid for fossil fuels. There must be no loophole or allowance for fossil hydrogen produced from methane gas.   Carbon capture has no place in this equation.  The agency and the Biden Administration must create a foolproof method of banning hydrogen made from fossil or nuclear power.  As it is, 45V does not prioritize a hydrogen economy that will benefit the American public, or the planet.  45V benefits fossil fuel polluters to continue business as usual.  We have been warned in no uncertain terms, that “business as usual” from fossil fuel usage will be absolutely catastrophic for humanity.  Let us use this opportunity as a true opportunity to work towards climate solutions.  The IRS must re-evaluate the aims of the 45V program and ensure that our real aims of justice and environmental conservation are addressed by the program.  As it is, corporate welfare, fossil fuel and nuclear entrenchment, and business as usual are promoted at the expense of the people, the environment and the planet.  I think we all agree that the root problem that we’re trying to solve here is greenhouse gas pollution and stopping the climate emergency.  We must have initiatives that have the teeth and the guardrails in place to get us there.  It is time for the agency to listen to the people that are affected most.

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