BP's Proposed "Clean" Energy: Hydrogen = Petroleum Coke

BP, in the news for the big oil spill, is planning a billion dollar facility in California to use Petroleum Coke to make Hydrogen and store 90% of the carbon (will it leak?).

Hydrogen is not a power source - is a storage system. Somehow hydrogen has a great reputation, when it is generally created using dirty fossil fuels (or nuclear power).

Their proposal pretends that dirty fossil fuels can be clean, relies upon untested carbon storage technology, is government subsidized, and is more expensive than renewable alternatives (like wind).

Energy Justice Network webpage on the project

BP's project website

Here is a graph of BP's lobbying per year (from OpenSecrets.org) - it spent $16 million last year, probably mostly to stop climate change legislation, and over $3 million in the first quarter of 2010:

By contrast, BP has given less money directly to candidates (Obama got the most, however this is money that came from BP employees - nothing from its PAC).