Pulse Check: Hydrogen
E. Dee Martin, partner and co-head of Bracewell’s Policy Resolution Group, and Rebecca Brown, a PRG principal, discuss the future of the hydrogen industry during the second Trump administration. Learn more from our website https://www.bracewell.com/resources/p...
Transcript:
Dee Martin: Through the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress and the administration invested billions in the proliferation of hydrogen to advance the energy transition. Two key investments were in the Department of Energy hydrogen hub program and in the 45V hydrogen production tax credit, which, of course, is not yet final.
Here’s what we know. Number one, the new president is going to enter his second term with a mandate which arguably gives him more leeway. Two, personnel is policy which is going to dictate, in part, what happens with these programs. And three, hydrogen as an energy vector has bipartisan support.
So, I’m going to first ask my strategic communications colleague Rebecca Brown a question to frame our analysis. Rebecca, you were a senior official at DOE during the Trump administration. You were part of the comms leadership team for the secretary. Given what you know, can you tell us what characteristics you’re expecting in a new DOE secretary?
Rebecca Brown: Thanks, Dee. Yeah, I think there is a few qualities and skill sets that are going to drive decision making for President Trump and his team. And I think we can certainly use the leadership of former Secretaries of Energy Rick Perry and Dan Brouillette as guideposts.
The first, setting aside energy for a moment, is the job itself. Under the first Trump administration, DOE was nicknamed the Department of Everything because its mission is so vast and incredibly varied, from the program offices to the personnel to the national labs. Managing the breadth and reach of DOE is a massive undertaking in and of itself, someone with executive or CEO level experience is necessary, which is what we saw in the selections of Secretaries Perry and Brouillette.
Coming back to energy, the Trump administration is really going to value someone who’s able to look at the full chess board of the American energy landscape and understand how energy markets work, not only in strengthening our domestic supply chains, but also in how US Energy interacts with global energy markets, its role with our trading partners, especially in Europe, and its role in enhancing our leadership abroad. Both Secretary Kerry and Secretary Brouillette brought enormous expertise to the table, and importantly, both had an in depth knowledge of and deep ties to Texas and Louisiana, which is not only an energy hub, but a leading industrial basin that gave them an understanding for the role of the energy industry in driving our economy and how important that sector is to the US workforce.
Finally, and this is related, but I think worth highlighting separately, we should remember that the Trump administration has a deep appreciation for the nexus of energy security with national security. President Trump’s approach to energy in his first term was absolutely guided by the principle that we are more energy secure and regionally safe if we have access to a diverse array of energy sources and by leveraging technology to drive energy innovation.
So, I think President Trump’s selection for secretary of energy will almost certainly have demonstrated leadership in those arenas.
Now, having said that, what do you think, Dee, are the prospects for does hydrogen hub program and 45V?
See the full transcript from our website https://www.bracewell.com/resources/p...
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