Enbridge vice-resident of operations Jim Sanders said his company has built a hydrogen plant in Markham, but “it’s not a snap of the fingers when you look at the quantity of energy we’re talking about.” “We’ve been working on this for five years and we’re working on the technology to introduce hydrogen. It is complicated and not straightforward,” he said, as another resident told him Sweden is already supplying hydrogen on gigawatt scales.

Hamilton 350 committee member Don McLean questioned why Enbridge can’t supply Dofasco with clean hydrogen, the proposed fuel source to get to net zero, or at least design the pipeline so it can do so. “Would it be wise, if you’re the enabler of this project, to include that option?” McLean said. “You’ve already said the coating on this pipeline would not be able to carry hydrogen, but could we do that?”

“It’s not the new pipeline infrastructure that’s making it a positive project. Accelerating the switch, that would be totally positive. What’s happening here is this expansion,” Iannantuono said at the March 2 open house at the Stoney Creek Lions Club. “Enbridge in general wants to extract everything they can out of the assets while they are profitable — that’s just how companies work — or bring in a brand-new pipeline that they’re going to try to use for the longest time possible.”

"...Lucia Iannantuono, Green Party candidate in Hamilton Centre’s March 16 provincial byelection, criticized the plan’s silence on how Dofasco will get to net zero. She said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is calling for the use of natural gas to be stopped by 2030 to avoid “passing the tipping point” on global warming, and the pipeline will increase usage.