CNX plans $1.5B hydrogen fuels plant at Pittsburgh airport, but wants federal tax credit to build it

abcnews.go.com:

Natural gas producer CNX Resources says it plans to build a $1.5 billion facility at Pittsburgh’s airport to make hydrogen-based fuels

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Natural gas producer CNX Resources said it plans to build a $1.5 billion facility at Pittsburgh's airport to make hydrogen-based fuels, but only if President Joe Biden’s administration allows coal mine methane to qualify for tax credits that are central to the Democrat's plan to fight climate change.

The proposed facility has the backing of Pittsburgh-area labor unions, which hope to fill thousands of construction jobs, and top Pennsylvania officials, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. But it is likely to face scrutiny from clean energy and climate change activists.

The announcement comes as Biden's administration decides how to tailor billions of dollars in tax credits in a massive effort to build out a hydrogen industry to be a cleaner alternative to fossil fueled energy and slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

CNX said the facility would remove a potent greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — methane vented from coal mines — and blend it with natural gas to produce enough hydrogen-based airline fuel to supplant almost all of the jet fuel consumption at Pittsburgh International Airport.

“We want to produce our gas here, use it here to solve complex problems and this is one of those that addresses a really hard problem to solve: decarbonizing aviation is a challenge," said Ravi Srivastava, CNX's president of new technologies.

CNX's partners include the airport and KeyState Energy, which is building a facility in northern Pennsylvania to produce hydrogen from natural gas.

Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council, called it the “most