Gov. Shapiro Avoids Climate Change Mention, Hypes Hydrogen In First Budget Address

HARRISBURG, PA — In his first budget address since taking office, Gov. Josh Shapiro wholly avoided mentioning climate change, touted hydrogen as a viable green energy solution, and pointed to methane leaks from abandoned wells while declining to address industrial pollution or the larger systemic issues that environmentalists agree are driving a planetary crisis.

The Tuesday morning address was received with broad ovations from the establishment figures that backed his election but lukewarm skepticism from climate advocates. A federation of renewable energy and climate change grassroots groups, the Better Path Coalition, expressed strong disapproval of Shapiro's words. They expressed specific concerns with Shapiro's focus on hydrogen energy, which is known to cause methane leaks in the air that can often more than cancel out positive climate impacts.

"In a budget address that was absent of any strong initiatives to address the accelerating climate crisis, his statements supporting hydrogen were the most revealing of his lack of seriousness on the matter," the group said moments after the address concluded.

In fact, Shapiro directly addressed methane, the emission that hydrogen energy causes, by spending time talking about using "as much federal funding as possible" to cap abandoned wells. The governor said that he had "seen some of those wells myself. I’ve taken a zippo lighter – made right in Bradford by the way – and watched a big fire ball go up.

There are an estimated 700,000 of these wells in Pennsylvania. Shapiro's proposed use of federal funding would cap a mere 50 of them, Better Path estimated.

While not placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the responsible industrial interests, the same corporations aggressively campaigning against the state's bid to join RGGI, Shapiro suggested hydrogen was a climate friendly solution. He did not mention that he is pushing for the state to be home to up to three of the 10 hydrogen hubs proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy, nor were the significant environmental concerns with hydrogen as an energy alternative addressed.

Blue hydrogen hub plans are "costly, unproven, and significantly less effective than other means of reducing climate-warming carbon emissions," researchers with the Ohio River Valley Institute found, largely due to their methane leaks.

Beyond the conspicious absence of the words "climate change," Shapiro's address also made no mention of fracking, toxic oil and gas waste, methane leaks from underground storage facilities, and reform of state environmental agencies which both grassroots organizations and state lawmakers say have been chronically underfunded and understaffed.

RELATED: Shapiro Silent On PA Joining Regional Climate Change Initiative

"We never received a response from Shapiro (on the above points) and certainly could not glean one from his address today, unless we were to infer that recommendations emanating from frontline and grassroot organizations are officially being ignored," Better Path added. "If that is the case, Pennsylvania will not be part of a climate solution."

Shapiro's budget does include $663 million from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a coalition of states placing stronger restrictions on natural gas giants and enforcing caps on carbon emissions. It has long been unclear where Shapiro stood on the initiative, excoriated by natural gas producers who see the writing on the wall with coal and by Republicans who are still vying in court to prevent the merger.

It's possible the inclusion in the budget means that Shapiro supports fully joining the program, but he has still not made any public statement on RGGI since being elected, despite saying during the campaign that he would address it upon his inauguration. Multiple requests for comment on the issue to Shapiro's office have not been answered.

Shapiro's full budget address can be watched online here and details of the proposed budget have been organized here.