But somehow the public may be under the impression that a new, pollution-free energy source exists.
It's not true. We can't drill a hydrogen well. Hydrogen has to be manufactured, and it will necessarily require more energy to do so than the hydrogen produces.
We can't fool Mother Nature.
I am not a fan of fuel cells that run off hydrogen gas. There are technologies in development that use catylists to strip the hydrogen off methane within the fuel cell. That seems to me a much more rational approach.