The Public Regulation Commission should summarily deny the Petition for Rulemaking filed by Secretary Kenderdine and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department asking the PRC to treat “no-carbon hydrogen electric generation facilities” as a “zero carbon resources” eligible to satisfy the Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) established in the Renewable Energy Act. (Case No. 25-00041-UT)

This Petition should be dismissed outright—without further proceedings—because it is factually and legally wrong. It exceeds the Commission’s statutory authority and improperly seeks to amend the REA, a function constitutionally reserved for the Legislature. The Renewable Energy Act is clear and specific: only legislatively defined “renewable energy resources” may be used to meet the Renewable Portfolio Standard. Nowhere in the statute is hydrogen, “no-carbon” or otherwise, included in that definition. The Legislature intentionally limited renewable energy to resources like wind, solar, geothermal, and qualified biomass. 

Hydrogen is not a zero-carbon resource - 99% of all hydrogen produced in the US is made from methane gas and coal. Industry promises to capture the resulting emissions do not account for the significant leaking, venting and flaring of methane transported to hydrogen plants, or the fact that hydrogen itself is a climate warming gas. The Petition directly undermines the Renewable Energy Act’s purpose: to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. 

For these reasons, we are requesting that the Commission dismiss the Petition in full.

Read the full text of the petition here.