Clean Air Council Criticizes Signing of Massive Methane Giveaway, HB1059

Harrisburg, PA (November 3, 2022) This afternoon, Governor Wolf signed 66 bills into law, including House Bill 1059, a roughly $2 billion tax credit package, over 90% of which goes toward supporting additional fracked gas (aka methane) extraction and combustion. A gut-and-replace amendment to HB1059 – a previously unrelated tax code bill – was introduced in the Senate Appropriations Committee on October 26th. The completely revamped legislation passed the PA Senate that afternoon and the PA House that evening. The bill provides up to $50 million annually in tax credits for manufacturing facilities located within a future Regional Hydrogen Hub that purchase and burn either methane or hydrogen (2024-2044). The bill also provides an additional $30 million annually in tax credits for petrochemical or fertilizer facilities that purchase and burn Pennsylvania methane as a feedstock (2024-2050).

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council, issued the following statement:

“We knew HB1059 would become law once it was presented to Governor Wolf. His administration directly negotiated this package and aggressively pushed for it to be rushed through during the last week of legislative session in Harrisburg. Even so, Clean Air Council remains deeply disappointed and alarmed. The text of this bill was publicly available for less than 12 hours before passing through both chambers in the General Assembly. There’s a reason this was negotiated in the dark.”

“Investing an additional $30 million on methane subsidies every single year through 2050 to support a petrochemical refinery boondoggle in Luzerne County is awful policy for state taxpayers and our climate. And the $1 billion investment in manufacturing facilities that burn methane inside a potential Hydrogen Hub has the potential to drive more methane and carbon pollution. The bill doesn’t even define “clean hydrogen” in a manner consistent with the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed Clean Hydrogen Production Standard, but rather as any hydrogen that “demonstrably aids achievement” of that standard, a massive loophole. Pennsylvania must join the rest of the country in an all-out mobilization to confront the climate crisis, and billions in additional fossil fuel subsidies are simply unacceptable. The next administration needs to internalize this message and embrace a different path.”