Cole Casts Lone Vote Against $316,800 Hydrogen Fueling Design Contract

Councilmember Rick Cole cast the sole dissenting vote Monday, May 18, against a $316,800 design and construction administration contract with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. for the city’s planned hydrogen bus fueling facility, citing a New York Times report published the previous day on the emissions-heavy production of most hydrogen and a European Economic Community report finding transit agencies there placed no new hydrogen bus orders this year.

The motion, made by Councilmember Justin Jones and seconded by Councilmember Steve Madison, passed 6-1. Councilmember Tyron Hampton was absent.

Cole, citing the May 17 Times article, told colleagues that most hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas in an emissions-heavy process, and quoted an earlier Times report stating “America’s clean hydrogen dreams are fading again” as costs rise and Congress put a lucrative tax credit “out of reach of many companies.”

“94% of the new orders for zero emission fleets for buses in Europe are electric and there literally this year were no new orders for hydrogen,” Cole said, citing the latest European Economic Community report and listing Austria, Poland, Germany, France, England, Australia and Belgium as countries where transit agencies have abandoned hydrogen investment.

Cole urged the council to walk away now, warning the city would face “increasing compulsion” to spend another $15 million going forward, with a roughly $12 million decision looming for the next step, and eventual service cuts to vulnerable residents if forced to rely on trucked-in “gray” hydrogen.

Acting Assistant City Manager Phillip Leclair told the council that staff had returned to the five granting agencies funding the project at the Municipal Services Committee’s direction. Pulling out now would mean an immediate loss of about $3.6 million in non-reimbursable grant funds, with another $14.2 million at risk and requiring reapplication or rescoping that could take six to 12 months, LaClair said.

“So potentially we could be forfeiting approximately $18 million,” Mayor Victor M. Gordo said. Staff confirmed the figure.

Councilmember Jason Lyon, noting the city made the original decision in 2023 and has invested close to $18 million, argued hydrogen fuel cells are clean at combustion and that even gray hydrogen produces fewer emissions than the city’s current compressed natural gas buses.