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and with that i'll turn to my ranking member and friend senator brasso for his opening remarks well thanks so much mr chairman and i agree we do have a crisis in the nation and i'm glad you're holding today's hearing the topic of federal regulatory authorities over interstate hydrogen pipelines is really an important topic for us to be discussing over the past several years the private sector has shown a growing interest in expanding the use of hydrogen as a fuel source hydrogen is the smallest the lightest and most abundant element in our universe it also offers great promise as a source of low carbon and carbon free energy the hydrogen we use is not found in isolation it's commonly bound to other elements methane coal water hydrogen must therefore be separated from these compounds and for that reason the places where we extract hydrogen will often be far from the places where we use hydrogen that's why we need a safe efficient and cost-effective means as you pointed out to transport hydrogen the hydrogen can be shipped in two ways can be chilled to a liquid and shipped by truck or rail or barge alternatively it can be shipped as a compressed gas through pipelines most existing natural gas pipelines are equipped to ship methane blends which can include up to 20 percent hydrogen as interest in hydrogen expands our existing interstate natural gas pipeline network may become the principal means that we use to ship hydrogen at some point in the future there may need to be a vast pipeline network that can ship higher blends of hydrogen or even exclusively hydrogen and that brings us to the question before us today what authority does the federal government currently have over hydrogen pipelines and what does congress need to know before we consider any next steps under current law the natural gas act provides the ferc the federal energy regulatory commission authority over natural gas pipelines that includes pipelines that can ship up to 50 percent hydrogen the interstate commerce act provides the commission authority over pipelines that ship hydrogen to be used as a fuel source at this point i'm not convinced that there is a so-called regulatory gap that congress needs to fill it's important to keep in mind that the hydrogen industry is still in its infancy 20 years ago many in washington believed hydrogen would soon be a widely used fuel source despite millions of dollars in incentives and backing of the bush administration that never materialized we must therefore be cautious and acknowledge that excessive regulation does more harm than good so let's not kill the hydrogen industry while it is still in the cradle we must also not take steps that may empower those looking to block new natural gas pipelines wyoming west virginia many other states represented on this committee have been blessed with abundant natural resource gas resources these natural gas resources have provided tens of millions of american families with an affordable and reliable source of energy yet today our country's natural gas pipelines are under unprecedented attack well-funded environmental extremist activist groups are throwing the kitchen sink at every new project the current majority of the ferc the federal energy regulatory commission wants to make it nearly impossible to upgrade pipelines or build new ones i'm concerned that some of the commission may seek to make the ability to ship higher blends of hydrogen a reason to impose new conditions on new or upgraded natural gas pipelines if that happens it'd be a disaster let's not give these activists or the commission another weapon to use against natural gas pipelines so i want to thank all the witnesses for being here today and joining us i especially want to thank dr kretka from wyoming from traveling from laramie wyoming i look forward to the testimony