Air Products has signed a deal to build a hydrogen fueling station in Flint, Michigan. This station will supply clean H2 gas to one of Flint’s Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) hydrogen fuel cell buses.
Now, normally I wouldn’t bat an eye when reading such a story about another hydrogen fueling station being built to supply compressed gas to another fuel cell bus – and especially when Air Products is involved in this endeavor.
According to Air Products, “The company has placed over 120 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States and 19 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled with trend-setting technologies that involve Air Products’ know-how, equipment and hydrogen. Use of the company’s technology is increasing and is currently over 350,000 hydrogen fills per year.”
The reason I did bat an eye, however, when I read this story is because of the station’s future location in Flint, Michigan. If you’ve ever seen Michael Moore’s movie “Roger & Me” then you’ll know that in its hey-day Flint was quite a car town, located only 66 miles from Detroit. But, since General Motors closed several plants and outsourced jobs (about 80,000 people around Flint have lost their jobs to date), the town has never been the same.
In fact from the years, 2007 – 2010 the FBI Reports that Flint has been one of the top 5 cities nationwide for violent crimes. But, with the opening of a hydrogen fueling station and the running of a fuel cell bus, this may give Flint some hope in becoming a car town again.
Because of the Flint Sit-Down Strike in the mid 1930’s the United Auto Workers was born. But, recently as I’ve already stated, Flint has fallen on hard times. But, perhaps Flint is now standing back up, dusting itself off and getting a second chance in history, this time becoming a “hydrogen car town”.
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