Full Title: Building Stronger Community Engagement in Hydrogen Hubs
Author(s): Madeline Schomburg, Nick Britton, and Beth Dowdy
Publisher(s): EFI Foundation
Publication Date: February 13, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Building Stronger Community Engagement in Hydrogen Hubs (February 2024) is a factbook reporting the results of a survey of nearly 5,000 respondents from disadvantaged, tribal, labor, and environmental justice communities on their attitudes toward hydrogen hubs and community engagement. It contributes to ongoing efforts by communities, hydrogen hub developers, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to align on community engagement approaches and best practices for DOE’s $7 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) program. The factbook gives insight into communities’ preferred modes of engagement with hydrogen developers, their attitudes toward hydrogen hubs, and their perceptions of DOE’s community engagement processes.
The survey was conducted from May through October 2023. The team collected responses only from individuals who self-identified as a member of one of the communities mentioned in DOE’s guidance for Community Benefits Plans: local frontline residents and disadvantaged communities that live near a proposed project and its infrastructure (“DACs”); tribal communities that may have historical or sacred ties to a proposed project site; labor groups that could receive jobs; and environmental justice groups that advocate for the safety and health of communities and the natural environment (“EJ”). Respondents represented a wide distribution of urban and rural areas across each state and were reasonably representative of U.S. demographics.
The EFI Foundation is continuing to collect data to provide a comprehensive perspective for driving open and honest engagements among all stakeholders. Drawing on the initial community survey and case study analysis, the factbook offers recommendations that can inform how H2Hub developers, DOE, and groups representing community members can better achieve the goals of the Community Benefits Plans.