A little over a week ago I talked about how the DOE was restoring funding for hydrogen fuel cell research and other hydrogen related funding. Now, according to stargazette.com another important step in Washington D. C. has taken place.
According to this online newspaper, “The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which includes an amendment to restore $45 million in hydrogen fuel cell research funding, New York Democrats Eric Massa and Steve Israel announced.”
Congressman Massa is particularly interested in restoring funding since General Motors operates a large fuel cell research and development center in Honeoye Falls in upstate New York.
The U. S. Senate is also close to restoring $190 million in hydrogen fuel cell research funding. Columbia, South Carolina will be another benefactor of restoring the hydrogen research budget as they have been building a “hydrogen triangle” of business, university and government research facilities in the area.
Of course, once the Senate and U. S. House vote on their separate bills, they will still go to a conference committee that will submit the final 2010 national budget to President Obama who nixed the hydrogen budget in the first place.
So, even though the restoration of the hydrogen budget is looking hopeful it still has some hurdles to pass first. We’ll know in the coming weeks and months whether the current administration is serious about attacking global warming and energy independence on all fronts or whether they would rather hand pick winners and losers in this emerging marketplace.
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