Report from the Orlando Hydrogen Event 2/18/2005

Reported by Corbett Kroehler of The Sierra Club
Click Title for event photos

When I stepped out my front door to catch the 10:00
bus to the airport, I quickly noted how the weather
would be just about ideal for the historic event yet
to come, the groundbreaking of Florida's first
hydrogen filling station and the launch of Florida's
Hydrogen Highway. Since the morning's theme was to be
clean transportation, it only seemed fitting that I do
my part by using a combination of mass transit and
shoe leather to travel to the event instead of my
gasoline-powered automobile.

I also was eager to attend because I knew that having
Governor Jeb Bush as keynote speaker would assure at
least moderate press coverage. However, when I arrived
and saw a huge Ford Sustainable Mobility Technologies
tractor trailer sitting just north of the event
entrance, I knew that the best was yet to come.

As I strolled along the mulch and sod entry way and
claimed my preprinted nametag, I glanced at the agenda
card handed to me and quickly noted that several other
significant names appeared after Governor Bush's,
including those of Bill Ford, CEO of Ford, Gregory
Vesey, CEO of ChevronTexaco, Dale Oliver, Regional VP
of Progress Energy and Florida State Senator Lee
Constantine! I nearly did a cartwheel on the spot. I
knew right then and there that the day's event would
be more than a bunch of lip service married with a few
photo ops.

Wishing to eschew my typical partisan rhetoric in the
interest of moving Florida and North America away from
fossil fuels, I hung on every word of each speaker's
prepared remarks, hoping to find political middle
ground. I didn't have to listen too intently! I
quickly learned that from the angle of Florida's
government, genuine revenue is being directed to this
project. Governor Bush mentioned several times that
monies which the Florida legislature has directed
toward the project have been matched roughly 2:1 with
federal dollars, totaling around $10 million so far.

He never uttered the words but as I listened between
the lines of Jeb's speech, I heard a sub text aimed at
the Governor of each other state which is trying to
forge ahead as the nation's leader in hydrogen-based
transportation: “Governor Pataki, Governor Richardson,
Governor Schwarzenegger, Florida will be a major
player in hydrogen-based clean transportation.”

Jeb didn't stop there, though. He even addressed an
area of strife with his brother. While not mentioning
the White House specifically, Governor Bush noted that
since he is a staunch opponent of new drilling for oil
and gas off the Florida coast, it would be
hypocritical of him not to use the good graces of his
office to help Florida find other sources of energy.
That was a most welcome remark.

The fact that Florida's initiative has real funding
and real momentum was gratifying to hear but merely
the appetizer. When Bill Ford stepped to the podium
and spoke about his company's conviction that hydrogen
is the only way to go, spending around $2 billion on
research and development to make it happen, I knew
that the rubber truly had hit the road. It was
abundantly clear that the chicken-and-egg paradox of
moving away from petroleum to hydrogen was fading –
that you can't convert to a different fuel without
vehicles to use the fuel and no automaker will produce
hydrogen cars without readily-available fuel.

Consider, a man of Ford's power and stature doesn't
need to put himself out there, speaking to a crowd of
about 200 people gathered around a make-shift stage
with a mulch and sod floor below to crow about clean
transportation. He very easily could have limited
himself to huge auto shows with multi-million-dollar
budgets and flashy video presentations. Instead, he
spoke with eloquence and zeal in the middle of a
vacant lot near Orlando International Airport. That
fact spoke volumes to me.

As impressed as I was with Mr. Ford, though, I was
truly bowled over by the next speaker, Gregory Vesey,
CEO of ChevronTexaco, a true powerhouse (pun intended)
in the global energy market. His words resonated with
the vibrato of a man who controls vast stores of
fossil fuels yet to be burned yet with a hint of
genuine belief that investing in hydrogen for consumer
use now would yield first-to-market cachet. Mr. Vesey
didn't stop there. In place of platitudes about the
balance between profit and protection, he declared
ChevronTexaco's commitment to doing their part to help
build truly self-contained hydrogen fueling stations.
Yes, he said that trucking in hydrogen to be dispensed
to vehicles was less than ideal. He wants
ChevronTexaco hydrogen stations to manufacture their
own fuel on site.

That was very significant because it means that his
company at least has realized that the environmental
community won't be truly happy about burning hydrogen
as a transportation fuel unless it is as green as
possible. While I still had the impression that Mr.
Vesey would have preferred that his trip to Orlando
from Houston include 18 holes of golf instead of a
speech to 200 bureaucrats, environmentalists and
politicians, I left with a profound sense of hope
that, unlike ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco has decided to
work with us rather than against us.

Next up was Dale Oliver, Regional VP of Progress
Energy. Progress' record thus far of offering green
tags or other options to consumers to pay extra to
derive a portion of their commercial and/or
residential electrical power from renewable sources
has been spotty at best. Nevertheless, Mr. Oliver
expressed pride that Progress Energy will play a
significant role in Florida's move to clean
transportation. When he spoke about his strong ties to
the Central Florida community and Progress' commitment
to put its money where its mouth is by using Ford
hydrogen-powered vehicles in its daily operations, my
interest was piqued. During 2004's tragic hurricane
season, Progress did an outstanding job of restoring
electrical service in relatively short spans of time
considering the unspeakable devastation which most of
the state suffered. Many of their line workers, as
well as those crews whom Progress imported, worked 18
hours a day for weeks at a time to help Florida come
out of the dark. That commitment was impressive and I
heard in Mr. Oliver's words a similar pledge to help
Florida move away from fossil fuels.

The final speaker of the event had perhaps the
greatest portion of zeal in his address, Florida
Senator Lee Constantine. Known to the environmental
community throughout the Southeast as a stalwart
supporter of conservation efforts, he has his hands in
several of Tallahassee's cookie jars as they relate to
clean transportation. At Governor Bush's behest, he
has proposed legislation in the Florida Senate to help
assure a continued steam of state monies into
construction of the Hydrogen Highway and committed his
bottomless energies to help his counterparts in the
Florida House see fit to do likewise. Perhaps most
significant in that legislation is a statewide
standard for building codes for hydrogen filling
stations, right down to the nozzle which connects to
the vehicle.

In conclusion, then, I can say without exaggeration
that the event covered every topic necessary to put
Florida on the road to using hydrogen as the
next-generation transportation fuel. While I am
certain that we will encounter many roadblocks and
impediments in the coming months, I am equally certain
that the hydrogen die is cast in Florida. Sure, we
could be much farther along than we are but the wheels
of change turn slowly and convincing entrenched
industries captained by the likes of ChevronTexaco and
Ford to change their tune to become not just allies
but team players in uncharted territory is an
accomplishment which cannot be overstated.

I commend the Florida Department Of Environmental
Protection for sponsoring the event. I commend
Governor Bush for crossing the aisle to tap Florida
Senator Constantine as legislative point person on
many important logistical issues. I commend Ford Motor
Company for sending its CEO along with two
demonstration vehicles and an engineer to speak about
their street-legal products ready for immediate use. I
congratulate ChevronTexaco CEO Gregory Vesey for
sounding more like BP's John Browne and less like
ExxonMobil's Lee Raymond. I congratulate Progress
Energy for committing instead of procrastinating.
Lastly, I offer yet another round of applause to
Florida Senator Constantine for placing yet another
feather in his environmental cap, this time with
perhaps the strongest bipartisan support of any of his
recent efforts.