Mark Ruffalo and a Cornell University professor warned against the dangers of blue hydrogen development in Northern Ireland.
The webinar, hosted by Fermanagh anti-fracking activist Dianna Little, saw scores tune in to learn about the impacts of the process.
Blue hydrogen
Campaigners fear two petroleum license applications for large areas of Northern Ireland could pave the way for a fossil fuel industry in the region.
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Cornell Universityâs Professor Robert Howarth spoke about the concept of blue hydrogen – a 2015 idea from French gas company Air Liquide which is now being pushed by the fossil fuel industry.
Robert Howarth said:
Itâs basically grey hydrogen, which is made by burning gas, with carbon capture and storage thrown in
âItâs been very heavily promoted since 2017 by this group called the Hydrogen Council which was only established in 2017.”
âThis group was set up by BP, Shell, Total and a few other oil companies so this is the privately owned gas industry and quite frankly itâs greenwashing.”
âSo far there are only two commercial blue hydrogen facilities globally, one in Texas and one in Alberta,â he added.
âItâs been very heavily promoted since 2017 by this group called the Hydrogen Council which was only established in 2017.”
âThis group was set up by BP, Shell, Total and a few other oil companies so this is the privately owned gas industry and quite frankly itâs greenwashing.”
âSo far there are only two commercial blue hydrogen facilities globally, one in Texas and one in Alberta,â he added. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.
âThe industry is heavily promoting this blue hydrogen. In one example they are calling it nearly zero emissions, this wonderful fuel – sometimes they say low emissions.â
But the Earth systems scientist and methane expert says thatâs far from the case. âThe fact is the science doesnât bear that up,â he added.
Professor Howarth worked with Stanford Engineering Professor Mark Jacobson for a research paper on emissions from both blue and grey hydrogen.
The peer reviewed work found that while blue hydrogen is better than grey âthe blue hydrogen footprint⊠is substantially worse than simply using any fossil fuel.
âWe are better off simply burning natural gas instead which we shouldnât be doing because we need to move to 100 per cent renewable energy quickly.”
Public health consequences of fracking
âThe public health consequences of fracking are bad, climate aspects are really bad as well and this blue hydrogen is nothing but greenwashing to continue to sell natural gas.”
âI would be very sceptical of carbon capture and storage,” he continued.
âWhat it does is allow our fossil fuel industry to perpetuate this idea that somehow we can deal with our energy future through that as opposed to going to renewables and a fossil free future.â
Mark Ruffalo, Hollywood star and decade-long anti-fracking activist said at the event:
The one thing thatâs clear⊠is when you hear the professionals actually talking about it, you say âthis is insane.
âThereâs really nothing good to come out of it and anyone with half a brain and doesnât have some ideological predisposition when they hear this, they decide this is a bad idea,” he said.
Fighting against fracking
âItâs what happened in New York state. The reason Iâm here is because I lived this⊠I was up at night, it was me and my family and all of our friends.”
âWe were terrified. We were bringing up children, we had moms, there was pregnant women – we were just like you.”
âAnd we lived through this and we fought – and we won the day because the science led the way.”
âWe didnât have the same kind of science that you guys have available to you now. We didnât have the health compendium.”
âWe had the beginning of Bobâs work and there was a lot of anecdotal evidence but we didnât have 18 years or a decade of real scientific study to show us what this was really about.”
âYou are starting away ahead of us. Not only did we have to fight the oil and gas industry but our politicians and even the green corps.”
âYou have your work cut out for you but this is doable and you have great science and information to help you win this fight.”
âThe difference between you and us is that youâve been through decades of trauma like Dianne was saying, like Dr Nolan and Dr OâDolan are saying.”
âThe societal impacts of this industrialisation are profound – I saw families turn against families, neighbours turn against neighbours.”
âThereâs another cost to this which is the community cost – itâs profound, especially if you are steeped in trauma.”
âWe used to say âdonât frack my motherâ but you guys could say âdonât blue hydrogen my motherâ – because it is the mothers who bear the burden of this.â
The Avengers star warned âwhoever controls your energy, controls your destinyâ.
And he urged Sinn FĂ©in to put in place a policy that will stop âlicensing of huge tracks of landâ to fossil fuel firms.
âWe had a saying in New York,â he added.
âIt was âdonât let the camel get itâs head in the tent because the rest of the body is followingâ.
âThatâs their MO – they do it incrementally so people arenât looking and the fact they are cynically taking this pandemic and trying to slip this by when everyone is suffering and struggling and grieving should be enough to make you very, very angry.â
Other speakers included Dr Kathy Nolan from Concerned Health Professionals and Fermanagh GP Carroll OâDolan.
Northern Ireland politicians are yet to make a decision on petroleum licensing for gas and oil exploration under laws that were written in 1964.
Mark Ruffalo warns against the dangers of blue hydrogen in NI in webinar hosting by anti-fracking activist, February 4, 2022
