Area lawmakers Friday applauded the announcement of West Virginia’s selection as the site of a hydrogen hub, a project that is expected to create upwards of 20,000 jobs.

A trio of elected officials, including U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Gov. Jim Justice all discussed the economic development announcement Friday.

Manchin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) for up to $925 million in federal support under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will bring a hydrogen hub to West Virginia.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a federal measure backed by Manchin, included $8 billion for regional clean hydrogen hubs to jumpstart the production, transport and use of clean hydrogen across the U.S. As a hydrogen hub selectee, Manchin said ARCH2 will develop a network of hydrogen-based energy and products manufacturing in West Virginia.

The West Virginia Democrat said the project is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs with the majority of those being in the Mountain State.

“This means West Virginia will be the new epicenter of hydrogen in the United States of America,” Manchin said. “We won the hub because of the hard work of countless individuals and organizations, and I could not be prouder to be making this announcement today. As chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, I wrote and fought for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to include $8 billion to establish hydrogen hubs to demonstrate the production and use of clean hydrogen — and now, West Virginia will be on the leading edge of building out the new hydrogen market while bringing good-paying jobs and new economic opportunity to the state.”

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also celebrated the announcement Friday.

“Today is a major win for the ARCH2 team and for future economic development and energy production in West Virginia,” Capito said. “Since we included language and funding for a hydrogen hub competition in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and at every stage since, I consistently supported efforts to help make this project a reality. I’m thrilled for the ARCH2 team, and am so proud West Virginia will continue its tradition as an innovative, energy-producing state through a regional hydrogen hub.”

Gov. Jim Justice, who held his weekly administrative briefing Friday, also applauded the news.

“Yesterday I received a call, and it was an incredible call, basically informing us we had had been selected for one of the hydrogen hubs,” the Republican governor said. “Our application was selected among tens and tens of applications.”

Justice said the announcement further establishes West Virginia as an energy producing state while creating new jobs for residents.

“We want to embrace all forms of energy,” Justice said. “But at the same time we are never going to forget our coal miners and gas workers.”

Justice described the project as a joint collaboration between West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“It’s really complicated,” Justice said. “But the state has coordinated many different participants that are both public and private. From the standpoint of the state directly receiving funds, I don’t think the state directly receives funds. Putting together the application was a monumental feat. It’s an incredible day.”

One thing that wasn’t immediately clear Friday is where the hydrogen hub will be located and what parts of the state the 20,000 jobs will come from.

The Daily Telegraph spoke with both Manchin’s office and Capito’s office on Friday seeking more details with regards to where the project will be located.

The newspaper was told that as part of ARCH2’s application to the DOE, projects were proposed throughout West Virginia, including in Brooke, Doddridge, Grant, Kanawha, Marion, Mason, Mineral, Mingo, Wetzel, and Wood counties. Specific examples of the types of projects include:

· New facilities to manufacture/assemble equipment to produce hydrogen from electricity and water.

· New facilities to produce hydrogen and ammonia using captured coal-mine methane from abandoned mines.

· Projects to build new or convert existing facilities to use hydrogen as a fuel for industrial manufacturing, chemical plants, data centers, power generation, and more.

· Hydrogen distribution to supply fuel cell-powered trucks, buses, and other vehicles.

· Pipeline infrastructure to transport hydrogen and natural gas-hydrogen blends.

· Underground facilities to store carbon dioxide captured during blue hydrogen production.

The ARCH2 team submitting their hub application for the project to the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations in April of this year.