Politics
H2Go: How experts, industry leaders say US hydrogen is fuel for the future of agriculture, energy, security
As the Trump administration pursues an “all of the above” energy strategy, hydrogen experts welcome the new attention and are advancing efforts to make it a top, domestically-produced power source.
The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, one of seven “hubs” nationwide, partners with tribal, public and private concerns to build hydrogen production projects throughout their region.
“Hydrogen has a lot of dexterity as a molecule, and it can be used for a host of different things,” PNWHA president Chris Green told Fox News Digital.
Hydrogen can be a power source, but it more so is utilized as an energy carrier due to its periodic makeup.
Hydrogen has important uses in agriculture. If the U.S. can bolster its hydrogen production, it can rely less on unreliable or adversarial economies. (Getty)
“It is a carrier of electrons and can store energy in that regard. But as a fuel, it’s just like any other fuel. It can be used to propel machinery, equipment and industrial processes, those kinds of things. And so it’s another sort of energy commodity product that we can make here at home domestically,” Green said.
Hydrogen also has a dual role in agriculture, he said.
Fertilizer – of which much has been historically imported from now-war-torn Russia and Ukraine – is hydrogenic in makeup. Ammonium nitrate – a key ingredient – is hydrogen sourced. If the U.S. can bolster its hydrogen production, it can rely less on unreliable or adversarial economies, especially amid new tariffs.
And its power-sourcing and energy-carrying nature can power equipment, mills and more.
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With all of these important uses, Green said the U.S. has a chance to “leap ahead of everybody else if we can build out all this infrastructure.”
Beginning in the aughts, there had been talk of hydrogen-powered vehicles. But the extremely flammable nature of hydrogen has kept it from being a ubiquitous fuel source like petrol.
One company investing big in hydrogen, particularly in the West, is Chevron. The company said hydrogen may appeal to those worried about the energy sector’s environmental footprint.
The Texas-based energy giant is “leveraging [its] strengths to safely deliver lower carbon energy in a growing world,” according to a statement.
“Hydrogen can play a key role in delivering large-scale lower-carbon solutions especially where electrification of demand is not feasible,” the statement said, adding it is confident hydrogen’s prominence will grow in the near-term.
Hydrogen is also used in processed foods, metallurgy and other areas.
In Utah, Chevron entered into a venture with Mitsubishi called ACES Delta or “Advanced Clean Energy Storage [of] Delta [UT].”
By harnessing the naturally protective state of an enormous subterranean salt cavern, the ACES Delta project currently under construction aims to produce up to 110 tons of hydrogen daily and store it at “utility scale” in the environmentally safe confines of the cavern.
AMAZON SIGNS HYDROGEN SUPPLY DEAL
The side of a city bus in Albany, California, touts that it is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell technology, Dec. 13, 2018. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Chevron expects the ACES Delta project to provide “delivery-scale” amounts to the Intermountain Power Agency – also based in the Beehive State – in the near term.
The company also boasted of the accessibility of the hub – which is located along U.S. 50, a highway that cuts a 3,000-mile swath through the center of the country from Sacramento, California, to Washington, D.C., and on to Ocean City, Maryland.
That hub also has the regional potential to power the world’s fifth-largest economy: California, which has otherwise driven out most fossil fuel refiners and producers.
In his interview, Green also noted the demand for cleaner-burning jet-fuel alternatives and suggested that rather than replacing oil, it is a greener complement to sweet crude.
“Sometimes, don’t think about hydrogen as replacing a bunch of other things as much as we think about it complementing and then nurturing or supporting or boosting some of these existing supply chains,” he said.
“[I]f you produce a lot of it, then you’ve got optionality to support a host of different industry verticals that could benefit from it.”
Hydrogen has earned rare bipartisan support, bridging a divide where the right typically resists renewables like wind and solar, and the left often opposes “Big Oil.”
“Central Washington is leading the way in the all-of-the-above approach needed to achieve American energy dominance,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.
“I am working with the Trump administration to ensure we protect the domestic resources we are building here at home.”
Newhouse told Fox News Digital that PNWH2 has made “huge strides” in advancing technology toward safe and clean energy that decreases foreign reliance.
“Supporting the hub means new jobs, new investments, and stronger domestic supply chains that fall in line with the administration’s bold energy agenda,” Newhouse said.
On the left, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in June that PNWH2 “is poised to play a leading role in growing America’s green hydrogen economy.”
“Investments in hydrogen have the potential to reduce emissions from the most difficult to decarbonize sectors,” added Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, D-Ore.
“[W]hen done right, hydrogen can help us solve hard problems and decarbonize sectors of the economy.”
In terms of agriculture’s interest in a hydrogen future, the Washington State Potato Commission told Fox News Digital that as a cornerstone of the Evergreen State and others’ economies, agriculture drives innovation and growth.
“The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub will play a crucial role in securing a local hydrogen supply for fertilizer production, helping to mitigate supply chain disruptions and rising costs that challenge the industry,” an official said.
“Beyond fertilizer, hydrogen presents an opportunity to potentially fuel agricultural machinery, such as tractors and trucks. Washington’s potato farmers are committed to supporting hydrogen production in the Pacific Northwest, strengthening the future of agriculture in our region.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Energy Department for comment.
Politics
Trump plans to meet with Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado next week
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President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Washington next week.
During an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Trump was asked if he intends to meet with Machado after the U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro.
“Well, I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves a national flag during a protest called by the opposition on the eve of the presidential inauguration, in Caracas on January 9, 2025. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)
This will be Trump’s first meeting with Machado, who the U.S. president stated “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to lead.
According to reports, Trump’s refusal to support Machado was linked to her accepting the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump believed he deserved.
But Trump later told NBC News that while he believed Machado should not have won the award, her acceptance of the prize had “nothing to do with my decision” about the prospect of her leading Venezuela.
Politics
California sues Trump administration over ‘baseless and cruel’ freezing of child-care funds
California is suing the Trump administration over its “baseless and cruel” decision to freeze $10 billion in federal funding for child care and family assistance allocated to California and four other Democratic-led states, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed jointly by the five states targeted by the freeze — California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — over the Trump administration’s allegations of widespread fraud within their welfare systems. California alone is facing a loss of about $5 billion in funding, including $1.4 billion for child-care programs.
The lawsuit alleges that the freeze is based on unfounded claims of fraud and infringes on Congress’ spending power as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is just the latest example of Trump’s willingness to throw vulnerable children, vulnerable families and seniors under the bus if he thinks it will advance his vendetta against California and Democratic-led states,” Bonta said at a Thursday evening news conference.
The $10-billion funding freeze follows the administration’s decision to freeze $185 million in child-care funds to Minnesota, where federal officials allege that as much as half of the roughly $18 billion paid to 14 state-run programs since 2018 may have been fraudulent. Amid the fallout, Gov. Tim Walz has ordered a third-party audit and announced that he will not seek a third term.
Bonta said that letters sent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing the freeze Tuesday provided no evidence to back up claims of widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in California. The freeze applies to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Social Services Block Grant program and the Child Care and Development Fund.
“This is funding that California parents count on to get the safe and reliable child care they need so that they can go to work and provide for their families,” he said. “It’s funding that helps families on the brink of homelessness keep roofs over their heads.”
Bonta also raised concerns regarding Health and Human Services’ request that California turn over all documents associated with the state’s implementation of the three programs. This requires the state to share personally identifiable information about program participants, a move Bonta called “deeply concerning and also deeply questionable.”
“The administration doesn’t have the authority to override the established, lawful process our states have already gone through to submit plans and receive approval for these funds,” Bonta said. “It doesn’t have the authority to override the U.S. Constitution and trample Congress’ power of the purse.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan and marked the 53rd suit California had filed against the Trump administration since the president’s inauguration last January. It asks the court to block the funding freeze and the administration’s sweeping demands for documents and data.
Politics
Video: Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela
new video loaded: Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela
transcript
transcript
Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela
President Trump did not say exactly how long the the United states would control Venezuela, but said that it could last years.
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“How Long do you think you’ll be running Venezuela?” “Only time will tell. Like three months. six months, a year, longer?” “I would say much longer than that.” “Much longer, and, and —” “We have to rebuild. You have to rebuild the country, and we will rebuild it in a very profitable way. We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need. I would love to go, yeah. I think at some point, it will be safe.” “What would trigger a decision to send ground troops into Venezuela?” “I wouldn’t want to tell you that because I can’t, I can’t give up information like that to a reporter. As good as you may be, I just can’t talk about that.” “Would you do it if you couldn’t get at the oil? Would you do it —” “If they’re treating us with great respect. As you know, we’re getting along very well with the administration that is there right now.” “Have you spoken to Delcy Rodríguez?” “I don’t want to comment on that, but Marco speaks to her all the time.”
January 8, 2026
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