As the former head of the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT), an organization demonstrating clean transportation for the Air Force, and also the former state of Hawaii hydrogen implementation coordinator, I would like to update the people of Hawaii that Hawaii Gas and SERVCO, to name but two, have committed and acted to develop executable strategic plans that include clean hydrogen in their portfolio.

For the past six years, I have been working with them to further the use of hydrogen as a clean, renewable energy source for transportation and other needs. Most people don’t know that Hawaii Gas produces hydrogen gas when it manufactures synthetic natural gas at its plant on Oahu. It is currently mixing a higher level of clean hydrogen into its pipeline than any other gas utility in the country. In fact, officials from other utilities have been consulting with Hawaii Gas to learn more about how they can increase the amount of hydrogen they produce.

I have helped local stakeholders stay informed of hydrogen developments around the world, and they have followed up, particularly with European “power to gas” initiatives and how they may help Hawaii — not only for the grid, but also transportation.

Hawaii Gas, SERVCO and other local companies are stepping out in advance of being regulated into action. Few energy utility companies can make that claim.

For example, Hawaii Gas partnered with the City and County of Honolulu to build Hawaii’s first renewable natural gas project at the Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant, harvesting methane (a very harmful greenhouse gas) from our sewage and distributing it to their customers through its pipeline on Oahu.

This renewable natural gas is carbon negative, which means when it is used in the system, it actually removes or eliminates more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. It’s exciting to think of the potential for opportunities for similar projects at the state’s other landfills and wastewater treatment plants, and what that would mean for the use of clean, renewable energy in Hawaii.

The bottom line is that local companies are working diligently to transform to meet the requirements of a changing energy landscape. What I have learned over the past decade is that government permitting and regulatory agencies, including the state’s Public Utilities Commission, are not helping Hawaii or the nation move forward in clean energy.

It took SERVCO Hawaii nearly 2-1/2 years to build its hydrogen production and dispensing station in Mapunapuna. This, in spite of the fact that California has 40 hydrogen stations built using the same international codes and standards that we do.

Did SERVCO get funding assistance or tax breaks to encourage this clean, sustainable, fossil free, zero carbon effort? No, it invested millions of dollars to help bring clean transportation to Hawaii while our local and state agencies try to figure out how to pay for a $10 billion rail project set to use fossil-fuel-generated electricity.

While Hawaii’s solar industry dies because HECO can’t absorb more intermittent renewables, companies like Hawaii Gas and SERVCO get precious little recognition for their self-initiated efforts.

Our elected officials talk up the “existential threat” of climate change — yet, to date, have done very little to make a real impact. SERVCO and Hawaii Gas are not alone, but they should get more public recognition for their efforts.

Brig. Gen. Stan Osserman (U.S. Air Force, retired) is the former director of the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies.