Facilitating the Safest Possible Transition from Fossil to Hydrogen Fuels - Hydrogen Executive Leadership Panel-Paper

In recent years, federal and state safety authorities have worked to bring emergency planners andresponders together with industry, the scientific community and consumers to ensure high levels ofsafety with gas and liquid pipelines, and more recently, with liquefied natural gas terminals. The U.S.Department of Transportation (DOT) is the federal authority on the safe transportation of energy, andthe National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) represents state-level safety authorities.Together, they have produced firefighter safety training materials, technical guidance and informationfor use in communities considering new energy infrastructure, and conducted research to support theseactivities. In 2004, the DOT-NASFM partnership established the Hydrogen Executive LeadershipPanel (HELP) to ensure a safe transition from fossil fuels to hydrogen fuel cells. HELP brings togethersenior policy-level experts from all sectors to understand and recommend mitigation strategies for therisks associated with the transportation and use of hydrogen in motor vehicles. The initial groupincludes experts from the United States, Canada, and Europe. HELP will be supported by an advisorycommittee of emergency planners and responders?individuals well-equipped to describe real-worldscenarios of greatest concern?and by a second advisory committee of engineers and scientists whowill help translate the real-world scenarios into useful technical solutions. By September 2005, HELPexpects to define the initial real-world scenarios of greatest concern, and bring together teams ofexperts to collaborate with automakers, energy producers, government authorities, consumers andpublic safety officials. Much work lies ahead, including creating guidance for hydrogen poweredautomobiles, emergency response safety training, establishing test methods to reflect real-worldincident scenarios, and modifying state and local building and fire codes. The HELP leadership willpresent its strategic plan and first report at the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety inSeptember 2005.