Standing Up for Communities in Houston – Erandi Trevino

Climate Money Watchdog

Our guest this episode is Erandi Trevino of Public Citizen, Houston. Erandi grew up in Houston and has been concerned about the pollution in her neighborhood since she was a young child.

Before joining Public Citizen in Houston as a Climate Policy and Outreach Specialist, she was an Advocacy Fellow with the Fulbright Association in Washington, DC, where she worked on education policy, nutrition, and financial regulations. During her time in DC, Erandi also volunteered for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

Earlier in her career, Erandi assisted the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations in New York. She has a law degree from Fordham University and degrees in International Relations and Latin American studies from Seton Hall University. Following her graduation there, she received a Fulbright Grant to teach English in Belo Horizonte, Brazil where she became fluent in Portuguese.

In this episode we discuss the following topics:

• The coalition of companies and other institutions that are partners with this new project called the HyVelocity Hub and their claims to be able to build an “ecosystem” from the existing hydrogen and pipeline industry in Houston to make clean hydrogen.
• HyVelocity Hub claims that they will be able use carbon capture to make “clean” hydrogen (called blue hydrogen) using existing hydrogen production plants.
• How credible is Houston’s Clean Hydrogen Roadmap in general?
• Is HyVelocity’s goal of achieving 2kg CO2 / kg of H2 is realistic?
• RMI currently estimates 20 kg CO2 / kg H2 with Texas’s current fossil-heavy power grid.
• How credible is HyVelocity’s vision “to serve disadvantaged communities by providing jobs and higher labor standards, reducing local pollution, and supporting and complying with the Justice40 initiative?
• Who are the powerful investors in this endeavor and how are they affecting the plans for these plants? Are they listening to local concerns or just greenwashing their environmental challenges?
• What is Public Citizen doing as a local activist to get some oversight on this HyVelocity Hub project?

Resources:

Center for Houston's Future

Houston Healthy Port Communities Coalition

Environmental Defense Fund - Better Hubs - Expring Decarbonizing Industry

Greater Houston Port Bureau's Project 11

On Breath Partnership's "What is Port Houston's Project 11?"

Erandi's Contact Information

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