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Lancaster, Japanese city team up for hydrogen pact

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[L to R] Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Consul General Akira Muto, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris. [Image via Kathryn Barger Twitter]
LANCASTER – The city of Lancaster has teamed up for a “sister city” agreement with Namie, Japan, in which the two cities agree to use hydrogen as their green energy strategy.

Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris and his counterpart, Kazuhiro Yoshida, signed the “Smart Sister Cities” agreement on Monday in an online event that took place simultaneously in Japan and the United States, and was attended by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, and Yukari Hino, director of hydrogen and fuel cell strategy for Japan.

It was touted as the world’s first bilateral agreement by municipalities pledged to using hydrogen as their green energy strategy. The concept was first proposed at a luncheon with Parris and Akira Muto, Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles, in July 2020.

“We now host several hydrogen company investments, and we envision an even brighter future centered around hydrogen,” Parris said. He suggested that the program could become a framework for municipalities of all sizes to adopt a hydrogen roadmap.

“Municipalities have tremendous power to influence decisions and improve the environment. We hope they will convert to this incredibly smart fuel that promises a new opportunity for cities everywhere,” Parris said.

Yoshida said hydrogen fit in with “recovery and excellence” as the central themes of the Tokyo Olympics.

“We are thrilled that Namie hydrogen is being used to fuel the Olympic torch, flame, and official fuel cell vehicle,” Yoshida said. “With the cooperation of all parties concerned, we strive for Namie to become a town that pioneers a hydrogen-based society using locally produced carbon-free hydrogen.”

He that the town’s efforts included the introduction of fuel cell vehicles as its official vehicles and the implementation of a demonstration study to establish a hydrogen supply chain.

Namie, in Fukushima prefecture, has been rebuilding after the Daiichi nuclear tragedy of March 11, 2011, completing construction of the largest solar-energy-powered hydrogen production unit in the world — the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field known as “FH2R” — in 2020.

Lancaster is also a hub of clean energy innovation. Since 2009, it has attracted more than $2 billion in solar investments, developed its own green energy municipal utility, and in 2019 became the first “Net-Zero” city in the United States.

Namie and Lancaster officials have been holding monthly meetings online.

“They are learning each other’s histories, cultures, and how to integrate hydrogen into their daily lives. We will also promote the dialogue with Japanese companies,” said Norihiko Saeki, executive director of the Japan External Trade Organization in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger called the partnership a historic opportunity for the city and county to take part in providing a critical resource.

“It is my hope that hydrogen made in Lancaster will help fuel the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, much like Namie-made hydrogen is being used during the upcoming Tokyo Olympics,” Barger said.

[Image via Kathryn Barger Twitter]

23 comments for "Lancaster, Japanese city team up for hydrogen pact"

  2. Get ready! The Anti-Rex/Anti-Lancaster/Anti-Anything_Good trolls will be showing up in any second now with their usual barrage of comments…

    As always, we will hear about how bad the “east side” is, how “corruption” reigns at city hall, how Palmdale city council is “bought and paid for”. We will see words like “minions” and “cronies” tossed around for the 5,076th time.

    It’s all so predictable and sad.

        • Is China now longer communist? Did we all miss something? Communist China has always been totalitarian. It is a model of rule that Wrecks uses any way he can to impose his will upon the hard working people of Lancaster.

    • Yes, Rex has many minions and cronies and has bought and paid for many politicians and board members. The ones he can’t own he sues. Make this 5,077.

      • Rex wouldn’t be the mayor of Lancaster if the voters actually showed at the polls and voted him out. 11.2% managed to get to the polls, and all the rest couldn’t get off their hind ends. I guess it’s better to complain, revisiting the past over and over again.

      • Blame the voters of Lancaster. At least in Palmdale the voters showed up to vote for Hofbauer and most people in Palmdale are happy with him.

        • lololol…most people wouldn’t know Hornblower if he showed up on their doorstep. NO ONE “showed up to vote for” him…they were there voting for Biden or Trump and got down to the Mayor race and picked the name they recognized…which was Hornblower since Wrecks’ payoffs bought a LOT of signage.

    • Don’t forget the lack of voting districts Mark to bring a Eastside voice to the decision making and funding.

        • I didn’t vote for Rex because I don’t like his ways, but I like Marks comment about the complainers here. You fit right in cause you complain about both Palmdale and Lancaster TSC from Partners.

          • I complain about the city government in Lancaster, which is about as corrupt as a city government can get, and I complain about that corrupt city government buying influence in the city government of Palmdale.

            If you think these are not worthy of complaint I have to wonder why not.

            As to you knowing who I am…big deal. As I have told any number of keyboard commandos on this site, I don’t say anything here that I won’t say to their face. I met with Mayor Hornblower and told him what I think of him, and I will happily get together and discuss what your qualifications as a minion might be if you want.

            And since you know I was in the partners academy program you might know I didn’t hold back there either. I went in looking to know why Palmdale contracts for law enforcement with one of the worst agencies in the country, and I found out why.

            You might also know that I’ve addressed the Palmdale city council under my full name and take some credit for the fact that they haven’t yet sold us out with a revenue sharing agreement. The last time Lancaster tried that they bought the council, the council approved to get it on a ballot…and the measure got crushed and the council got summarily dismissed at the next election. Lancaster’s response was to send their Sacramento minion to push through an amendment to state law that allows city councils to make such agreements without having to clear it with the voters…and after twenty years of maneuvering this is the bought and paid for council Wrecks’ expected to deliver.

            I suspect that knowing someone is watching them…someone with a BIG mouth…is what has kept Wrecks’ minions on the council from doing his bidding, so far. I’m sure they would rather not risk getting called out and swept out; which is not to say that I think enough people in Palmdale are paying attention to the screwing Wrecks is administering here. People have gotten so lulled into ignorance by shills like you that Hornblower et al might actually get away with it if they nut up and try.

            Now, do you want to REFUTE anything, or are you just gonna whimper about people pointing out the truth and try to play intimidation games?

          • Complainers or truth tellers? What has been said about Rex that isn’t true?

            Well…. we’re waiting!

    • So Mark Alvarado…………………………….. which of Rex’s programs are you a fan of? Was it Birds on the BLVD to lower crime? (FAIL) The $10 million dollar Eye in the Sky? (FAIL) Ecolution? (FAIL) Communist Chinese birth tourism? (FAIL) Traction Seal? (FAIL) War on Section 8? (FAIL and a multi million dollar lawsuit paid for by the taxpayer) Solar tower on Avenue H? (FAIL).

      Rex has been highly successful in destroying the lives of people such as Raymond Lee Jennings, David Grejeda, Randy Floyd, Johnathan Ervin, Esmeralda Jorge, and others.

      Do you believe him when he tells you a sheriff deputy is in great pain after being shot in the shoulder by a mentally ill person even though the shooting NEVER HAPPENED? Do you agree with Rex that the hard working nurses of AV hospital are “tyranneous cowards”?

      Are you on one of his many inept commissions?

      Curious readers want to know.

  3. We can only hope this works and isn’t another hair brained scheme of Wrecks.
    Will it be another Eye in the Sky, Birdies on the BLVD, Ecolution, Solar Pole on Ave H, Traction Seal, or Chinese Birth Tourism fiasco? Even a blind squirrel finds a buried nut every now and then. Maybe this time Wrecks will have a winner. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

    • It may be a good concept. It wouldn’t even be the first good concept to come along in Wrecks’ Lancaster. The problem is that at any and every step of the implementation you can count on the priority being “how can Wrecks profit personally?” followed by “how can a crony profit and enhance my political grip on the valley?”…with “can this actually benefit Lancaster and the majority of the residents?” being AT BEST a distant third.

  4. Only one making money on this deal is Japan and Rex. You really think Lancaster can afford US steel, and Union contractors to build the plant. Great idea but we all know only one plant will be built and it is not in Lancaster Ca. Rex’s great way to get his fall and summer vacations to Japan paid for by the tax payers for the next two years.

    • Rex always has been and always will be for himself and his cronies. Nice mask by the way. He pretty much melted down over someone who wasn’t vaccinated, yet here he is indoors sitting next to two masked people with his nowhere to be found. Nice blank stare too. Please just go away Rex.

    • Kathy “job killer” MaClaren would kill the plant construction over phony impacts