II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 646 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a Hydrogen Technologies for Heavy Industry Demonstration Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2023 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. 

HEINRICH, and Mr. LUJA ́N) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a 

Hydrogen Technologies for Heavy Industry Demonstration Program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hydrogen for Industry 

5 Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES FOR HEAVY INDUSTRY 

7 DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 

8 (a) EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM.—Subtitle F of 

9 title IX of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 16291 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 969E. HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES FOR HEAVY INDUS4 TRY DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF LOW-INCOME OR DISADVAN6 TAGED COMMUNITY.—The term ‘low-income or disadvan7 taged community’ means a community (including a city, 

8 town, county, or reasonably isolated and divisible segment 

9 of a larger municipality) with an annual median household 

10 income that is less than 100 percent of the statewide an11 nual median household income for the State in which the 

12 community is located, according to the most recent decen13 nial census. 

14 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—Not later than 180 days after the 

15 date of enactment of the Hydrogen for Industry Act of 

16 2023, the Secretary shall establish a program, to be 

17 known as the ‘Hydrogen Technologies for Heavy Industry 

18 Demonstration Program’ (referred to in this section as the 

19 ‘Program’), under which the Secretary shall provide 

20 grants or cooperative agreements to demonstrate indus21 trial end-use applications of hydrogen for— 

22 ‘‘(1) iron, steel, and metals manufacturing; 

23 ‘‘(2) cement manufacturing; 

24 ‘‘(3) glass manufacturing; 

25 ‘‘(4) ammonia and fertilizer production; 


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1 ‘‘(5) industrial food processes; 

2 ‘‘(6) production of synthetic fuels from hydro3 gen, such as with carbon oxides; 

4 ‘‘(7) fuel refining, such as biorefining; 

5 ‘‘(8) chemical synthesis, such as synthesis of 

6 methanol and ethylene; 

7 ‘‘(9) process heaters, including hydrogen com8 bustion with environmental controls; 

9 ‘‘(10) cogeneration to make electricity or heat 

10 to support industrial processes; or 

11 ‘‘(11) any other use of hydrogen for heavy in12 dustry, as determined by the Secretary. 

13 ‘‘(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Program is to 

14 support the adoption of hydrogen as an emissions reduc15 tion technology for heavy industry, including in applica16 tions where hydrogen is blended with other fuels or feed17 stocks. 

18 ‘‘(d) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS AND OTHER AU19 THORIZED PROJECTS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

21 grants or cooperative agreements on a competitive 

22 basis for commercial-scale demonstration projects 

23 for end-use applications of hydrogen and other au24 thorized projects, as described in paragraph (5). 


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1 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF GRANT OR COOPERATIVE

2 AGREEMENT.—The amount of a grant or cooperative 

3 agreement provided to an eligible entity under this 

4 subsection shall be not more than $400,000,000. 

5 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—An entity seeking a grant 

6 or cooperative agreement to conduct a demonstra7 tion project or other authorized project under this 

8 subsection shall submit to the Secretary an applica9 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 

10 such information as the Secretary may require, in11 cluding a description of the manner in which the 

12 project— 

13 ‘‘(A) will contribute to the reduction of 

14 greenhouse gas emissions at the applicable facil15 ity; and 

16 ‘‘(B) in the case of a project for industrial 

17 end-use application that already uses hydrogen 

18 at scale, will reduce or avoid emissions of green19 house gases. 

20 ‘‘(4) SELECTION.— 

21 ‘‘(A) CONSIDERATIONS.—In providing a 

22 grant or cooperative agreement under this sub23 section, the Secretary shall review each appli24 cant and application under paragraph (3) with 

25 respect to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the financial strength of the ap2 plicant; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the proposed construction sched4 ule; 

5 ‘‘(iii) the market risk of the tech6 nology that the applicant seeks to dem7 onstrate, as applicable; and 

8 ‘‘(iv) the contractor history of the ap9 plicant. 

10 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—In providing a grant or 

11 cooperative agreement under this subsection, 

12 the Secretary shall give priority to projects that 

13 will provide greater net impact in avoiding or 

14 reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. 

15 ‘‘(C) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—In pro16 viding a grant or cooperative agreement under 

17 this subsection, the Secretary shall, to the max18 imum extent practicable, provide a grant or co19 operative agreement for projects that— 

20 ‘‘(i) represent a variety of end uses of 

21 hydrogen; 

22 ‘‘(ii) will use at least 50 percent hy23 drogen blends by volume; 

24 ‘‘(iii) demonstrate existing or planned 

25 regional availability of hydrogen; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) will generate the greatest benefit 

2 to low-income or disadvantaged commu3 nities; and 

4 ‘‘(v) will maximize creation or reten5 tion of domestic jobs and provide the high6 est job quality. 

7 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZED PROJECTS.—A grant or co8 operative agreement provided under this subsection 

9 may be used— 

10 ‘‘(A) to carry out demonstration projects 

11 for end uses of hydrogen; 

12 ‘‘(B) to construct a new commercial-scale 

13 facility that will use hydrogen as a fuel or feed14 stock; or 

15 ‘‘(C) to retool, retrofit, or expand an exist16 ing facility determined to be qualified by the 

17 Secretary to enable use of hydrogen as a fuel or 

18 feedstock in industrial end-use applications of 

19 hydrogen, including at multiple points within a 

20 larger facility. 

21 ‘‘(6) REQUIREMENTS.—A demonstration project 

22 receiving a grant or cooperative agreement under 

23 this subsection shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) use technologies that have completed 

2 pilot-scale testing or the equivalent, as deter3 mined by the Secretary; 

4 ‘‘(B) on completion, demonstrate hydrogen 

5 technologies used by heavy industry; and 

6 ‘‘(C) conduct hydrogen leakage monitoring, 

7 reporting, and verification programs and leak 

8 detection and repair programs. 

9 ‘‘(7) COST SHARING.—The non-Federal share 

10 of the cost of a demonstration project carried out 

11 using a grant or cooperative agreement under this 

12 subsection shall be not less than 50 percent. 

13 ‘‘(8) ENGINEERING AND DESIGN STUDIES.— 

14 The Secretary may fund front-end engineering and 

15 design studies in addition to, or in advance of, pro16 viding a grant or cooperative agreement for a dem17 onstration project or other authorized project under 

18 this subsection. 

19 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.—No technology, or level of 

20 emission reduction, shall be treated as adequately dem21 onstrated for purposes of section 111 of the Clean Air Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 7411), achievable for purposes of best available 

23 control technologies (as defined in section 169 of that Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 7479)), or achievable in practice for purposes 

25 of the terms defined in section 171 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 


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1 7501) solely by reason of the identification of that tech2 nology or level of emission reduction in programs estab3 lished under this Act. 

4 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

6 out the Program $1,200,000,000 for the period of fiscal 

7 years 2024 through 2028, to remain available until ex8 pended.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

10 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–58; 

11 119 Stat. 600) is amended by inserting after the item re12 lating to section 969D the following: 

‘‘Sec. 969E. Hydrogen Technologies for Heavy Industry Demonstration Program.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy, 

16 the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Trans17 portation shall jointly conduct and submit to Congress a 

18 report describing the results of a study— 

19 (1) to examine the potential for emissions re20 ductions at industrial facilities through hydrogen ap21 plications, including— 

22 (A) the potential use of levelized cost of 

23 carbon abatement, or a similar metric, in ana24 lyzing industrial uses of hydrogen; and 


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1 (B) the feasibility and impact of incor2 porating levelized cost of carbon abatement to 

3 compare the costs of technology options to re4 duce emissions across a range of industrial ap5 plications; 

6 (2) to fully address existing challenges with re7 spect to ensuring the safe use and handling of hy8 drogen and hydrogen-based fuels and blends in in9 dustrial systems, including health and environmental 

10 impacts associated with the leakage of hydrogen and 

11 hydrogen carriers; 

12 (3) to identify and evaluate the feasibility, safe13 ty, and best practices of the use of hydrogen and 

14 ammonia as industrial fuel and feedstock, including 

15 ways that current procedures, training, and handoffs 

16 with supply chain partners should be augmented to 

17 ensure safety for workers and neighboring commu18 nities; 

19 (4) to examine the feasibility of blending in20 creasing levels of hydrogen with natural gas to sup21 plement process heat requirements; 

22 (5) to examine the environmental impacts of 

23 hydrogen combustion in hydrogen-fueled gas tur24 bines as pure hydrogen or at different ratios if used 

25 in blended fuel; and 


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1 (6) to identify and evaluate considerations for 

2 transport and storage of hydrogen and hydrogen 

3 carriers for use at industrial facilities. 

4 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the study under 

5 subsection (a), the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary 

6 of Commerce shall— 

7 (1) take into account lessons learned from dem8 onstration projects in other industries and projects 

9 in other countries; and 

10 (2) evaluate the applicability of the lessons de11 scribed in paragraph (1) to the use of hydrogen in 

12 industrial applications. 

Æ 


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