A city in southern California is proudly calling itself the first hydrogen city in the United States, Kallanish reports.

That proclamation came from Mayor R. Rex Parris of Lancaster, a city of 157,000 just north of Los Angeles, California. The city is the first in the US “to embrace hydrogen power,” he says in a statement.

He has led the fight in Lancaster for many years to decarbonise and to switch to hydrogen as the new clean fuel. He is spearheading efforts nationally and internationally to promote hydrogen and to integrate hydrogen into the power grid, fuel distribution, storage and use. He wants Lancaster to house new hydrogen projects.

Parris has attracted companies to build clean-energy projects in Lancaster including Hitachi Zosen Inova’s anaerobic digester to produce renewable natural gas, and the city is working to build out hydrogen fueling stations for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.

The city is also working with SGH2 to build a green hydrogen production facility in Lancaster. The plant will gasify recycled mixed paper to produce green hydrogen that reduces carbon emissions more than green hydrogen produced by electrolysis and is far cheaper. The city will co-own the facility.

In the past, the city developed extensive solar power, formed its own utility and offered cheap green energy to residents. It was the first city to require all new homes to have solar and helped build the first large-scale all-electric bus fleet.

Last week, Parris hosted a delegation from Japan and the city is beginning to develop sister-city relationships with other cities around the globe to promote hydrogen. His city, the 33rd largest in California, is seeking like-minded cities to become hydrogen partners.

“Hydrogen is the future,” Parris says in a Tuesday statement in which he titled his city. “It is the decarbonisation strategy of the future, and we will lead the effort with other cities following in Lancaster’s footsteps. The transition to hydrogen does not have to be limited to the world’s most famous large cities. In fact, cities our size can do some things then can’t….We support the state’s goal for GHG reductions and hydrogen is a great way to get there faster.”