KeyState To Zero Facility Part Of Announced Hydrogen Hubs

Clean Air Council has been monitoring the proposed KeyState to Zero project since it was announced in 2022. The idea of Pennsylvania-based businessman and KeyState CEO, Benjamin “Perry” Babb, the project garnered attention as the first facility proposed in Pennsylvania that would combine fracked gas drilling with onsite carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The facility will also manufacture ammonia and other chemicals that have a variety of uses, such as fertilizer. 

The November 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $8 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy to provide funding to establish six-to-ten regional hydrogen hubs, among which there must be at least one dedicated to fossil-based production of hydrogen coupled with CCS technology. Babb has long campaigned for KeyState to Zero to be used to attract federal funding to the area. On October 13, 2023, the Department of Energy announced the selection of seven regional hydrogen hubs to enter negotiations to finalize project details and the potential to be awarded funding. KeyState to Zero is listed as a project under the Appalachian Hydrogen HUB (ARCH2) that would span Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. 

The Council has created a fact sheet, to share as a tool to provide information about the project. We also continue to monitor developments now that the hydrogen hubs have been announced.

For more information about this proposed facility, contact Susan Sunhee Volz, Advocacy Coordinator, at svolz@cleanair.org