Louisiana’s Clean Hydrogen Task Force is urging state leaders to move quickly to secure the state’s edge in the emerging clean hydrogen economy, The Center Square writes.
After a year of study, the group has adopted its final report, calling for a permanent clean hydrogen coordinating committee to streamline permitting, workforce development, environmental oversight and economic development strategy. The report also recommends boosting staffing at the Department of Conservation and Energy and the Department of Environmental Quality so regulators can process hydrogen and carbon capture projects faster without sacrificing monitoring and enforcement.
Louisiana already accounts for about one-third of U.S. industrial hydrogen use—anchored by refineries, fertilizer plants and methanol producers along the river corridor—and the task force says that existing plants, pipelines and ports give the state a head start. But nearly all of that hydrogen is “gray,” and the report frames “blue hydrogen,” paired with carbon capture, as the near-term path—one threatened by the loss of the federal 45V tax credit in 2026.
