Uncle Sam offered the Terminator-turned-governor an offer he and California couldn’t refuse Thursday: a government-industry-university research team and up to $50 million in a five-year program to develop a hydrogen-based transportation infrastructure in the nation’s most populous and motor vehicle-inundated state.

The federal Department of Energy and others used the opening day of the National Hydrogen Association’s 15th annual conference/expo in Los Angeles to make the announcement. In Sacramento, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the federal grant demonstrated “the federal government’s confidence in California’s ability to pave the way towards an environmentally sound future.” The governor said it will help the state realize a “vision” he articulated earlier in the month to establish the start of hydrogen transportation infrastructure in the state.

Included in the infrastructure development will be hydrogen that is derived from both natural gas and renewable energy sources. In addition, some of the fueling stations envisioned will have dual dispensing capability for providing both gaseous and liquid hydrogen, according to the DOE.

DOE’s announcement said that the project team, including auto makers, an energy company, two California universities and a public agency, plans to “make substantial commitments to establish and demonstrate hydrogen infrastructure in California.” In the next five years, they plan to site up to 24 fueling stations, using what the DOE said would be “multiple approaches to producing hydrogen, (assuming the necessary) fueling infrastructure could be developed.”

DOE said the project team will include: Air Products; Toyota Motor Sales USA; American Honda Motor Co., Inc.; Nissan North America, Inc.; BMW; ConocoPhillips; the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine; University of California, Davis; and the South Coast Air Quality Management District that covers four counties in Southern California (Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino).

Schwarzenegger listed two other University of California campuses — Berkeley and Santa Barbara — as being involved along with two California-based research laboratories. “California’s businesses and research institutions are leaders in developing these important hydrogen technologies,” the governor said.

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