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The Philadelphia area Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub, or MACH2, could be on the chopping block. The Department of Energy listed MACH2 and the Pittsburgh-based Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, as projects targeted for termination. Together, the projects could lose $1.7 billion dollars in federal funding.
Both hydrogen hubs survived a round of Trump administration cuts announced last week that included more than $43 million for projects in Delaware and New Jersey. But the new list, which was obtained by several news outlets, includes 300 additional projects nationwide, including some in Pennsylvania.
The DOE said in an email to NPR that it had not made any final decisions beyond the cuts announced last week.
“As Secretary Wright made clear last week, the Department continues to conduct an individualized and thorough review of financial awards made by the previous administration,” wrote Ben Dietderich, DOE press secretary and chief spokesperson. “Rest assured, the Department is hard at work to deliver on President Trump’s promise to restore affordable, reliable, and secure energy to the American people.”
The Trump administration targeted $7.5 billion in cuts on the first day of the federal government shutdown in what Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought referred to in a post on X as “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a big proponent of the state’s two hydrogen hubs, said through a spokesperson that he is “an all-of-the-above energy Governor who’s worked tirelessly to generate more power in the Commonwealth.” He questioned the Trump administration’s stated commitments to developing hydrogen, which if the projects were to be terminated “would jeopardize tens of thousands of building trades jobs across Pennsylvania.”
“When Senator McCormick invited President Trump to join him in Pittsburgh in July, the President said he supports the development of new sources of energy in Pennsylvania – going so far as to tout the very projects slated to be decimated by the reported Department of Energy de-funding list,” wrote Shapiro’s spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky in an email to WHYY News. “If these rumors are true, continuing to support Pennsylvania’s two hydrogen hubs is critical to proving that he meant what he said.”
Sen. Dave McCormick did not respond to requests for comment.
