In a letter to the Governor on Thursday (August 19) the State Building & Construction Trades Council, California State Council of Labourers, District Council of Ironworkers, and the California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers, and CEOs from Toyota, Hyundai, Chevron, Shell, Linde and True Zero called for the immediate funding.

The letter comes little over a year after another letter to Newsom calling for $500m of the state’s budget to be dedicate to hydrogen infrastructure.

Read more: Leading CEO’s call for Californian Governor to dedicate $500m to hydrogen infrastructure

It is said the proposed 1,000 strong station network would provide a coverage of 94% of the geographic state, while business and labour leaders noted that the development could create between 2,280 and 3,720 hydrogen production and station construction jobs annually.

The group estimates by 2032, between 12,010 and 13,460 permanent jobs will have been created.

Signed by significant figures including, Joe Cruz, President of the California State Council of Laborers; Gretchen Watkins, President of Shell USA; Dan Yankowski, President of Linde Gases North America and Joel Ewanick, Chairman and CEO of FirstElement Fuel, the letter reads, “This is the dawn of an entirely new, clean and domestic power source made to serve the energy and transportation markets to achieve our shared goals.

“Funding to ‘finish the launch’ of the stateside fuelling network is a low-risk, high-reward investment. At this still early stage in market development, the signal California sends on hydrogen will impact private investment decisions.”