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Rachel McDevitt
An electric bus purchased by the Lewis County Transit Authority using a grant from TransAlta, photographed March 6, 2024. (Jeremy Long – WITF)
Joe Clark, who heads the Lewis County Transportation Authority, believes hydrogen could be the future of transportation, especially here.
The agency received a $1.8 million grant from the foundation to install micro-sized hydrogen electrolyzers that use electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
“In rural America and rural Washington, where we are today, you have to use hydrogen to go long distances because you can't get there with battery electricity alone,” he says.
Clark just accepted delivery of Washington's first hydrogen-fueled bus as part of the state's effort to develop a federal hydrogen hub.
Lewis County Transportation Authority Executive Director Joe Clark discusses the organization's operations on March 7, 2024. (Jeremy Long – WITF)
The company also ordered equipment to build a fueling station at the intersection of Route 12 and Interstate 5. The location, about halfway between Seattle and Portland, could be a convenient place for trucks to stop and refuel.
Clark sees building hydrogen as a way to attract companies that want to use hydrogen and create great new opportunities for people here.
Labor leader Bob Guenther hopes the new clean energy economy may also replace jobs for workers at shuttered coal-fired power plants.
Machinists, plumbers, and welders have skills that can be applied to hydrogen production.
Hydrogen plants require less labor than coal plants. The project, proposed by Australian-based company Fortescue Future Industries, will employ an estimated 45 full-time workers.
March 6, 2024: Thurston-Lewis-Mason County Labor Council President Bob Guenther returns to his truck to tour the industrial park on the TransAlta site. Fortescue Future Industries, based in Australia, is considering building a green space on the site. Hydrogen facility. (Jeremy Long – WITF)
Guenther, president of the Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council, said he expects more jobs to be created from related industries.
One company is “looking at using hydrogen as an aviation fuel, which is essentially a pollution-free way to fly a jet engine,” Gunter said. “The ancillary work that comes with this is going to be huge.”
Heavy equipment mechanic Tim Miles is an example of how worker skills transfer.
His business has a contract with First Mode, which is developing zero-emission mining equipment that is being tested at the former TransAlta mine site where Miles once worked.
Miles isn't sure how the new industry will fill the void left by TransAlta, but he sees a lot of potential.
“Maybe there will be other companies that say it seems like a great proving ground and want to put our machines there,” he said. “That's still up in the air. But it seems like it could be at least partially as good as TransAlta.”
None of the clean energy projects proposed for the Centralia area took off.
Günter had been trying to get a solar developer to install panels on a section of reclaimed land near the factory, but the project was canceled when the company decided it wasn't profitable.
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