Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour).

District 53 Newsletter: May 3, 2026

By. Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour)

This newsletter is written as the legislature continues to work through the final hours of the session Saturday night, May 2, and into Sunday. As I finish writing this in the chamber, it’s 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 3, and we’ve been here working for nearly 27 hours.

Senate File 2490, which passed the House Saturday night with amendments, is a bill that deals with geologic hydrogen, oil, and gas production in Iowa. This legislation arises from the fact that Iowa has been identified as a potential site for geologic hydrogen production in recent years. This type of energy production is fairly new, hydrogen production has been largely manufactured thus far. Geologists tell me that only one other place in the world is currently producing geologic hydrogen in any usable quantity, and that well is used to power a small village in Africa.

This bill was necessary to update Iowa’s laws regarding all aspects of oil and hydrogen production, including rules on business filings for wells, confidentiality, exploration, pooling, landowner protections, surface damage negotiations, taxes on production, and distribution of revenue.

This idea of producing geologic hydrogen is new, and there is still much that needs to be understood and discovered about it. There are two main theories being discussed about how hydrogen could be produced in Iowa. The first theory is that pockets of naturally existing hydrogen can be found here in Iowa. If so, it simply needs to be found, wells drilled, and the hydrogen brought to the surface. The second theory, and in my understanding, after discussions with the Iowa Geological Survey, the most likely, is that Iowa’s known mineral geology in a large swath across Iowa at 2 to 5 miles depth implies that hydrogen production could be “stimulated”. That means that the hydrogen does not exist yet, but if water and other chemicals are injected into this specific mineral layer the water would stimulate the minerals to produce hydrogen gas which could then be drawn to the surface. At least one company pursuing hydrogen in Iowa has patents on this stimulation process. This stimulation process would require large amounts of water, and that water would likely be lost to the surface water cycle once it’s injected at those depths. I have deep reservations about this technology for that and other reasons.

One of the significant issues with hydrogen production revolves around the issue of “pooling” and “pooling orders”. If pools of naturally existing hydrogen gas do indeed exist under Iowa, these pools will extend across multiple landowners’ property. If one landowner drills and taps that pool, he would potentially draw hydrogen from beneath other landowners’ property. This bill defines how proceeds will be distributed between the landowners and the producer in order to ensure fairness and equity. An amendment that I sponsored to this bill ensures that a pooling order would not be issued unless a producer first identifies an actual pool of hydrogen. This amendment ensures that if a producer is using a hydrogen stimulation process instead, the pooling order would not be allowed because the producer has complete control of where they are stimulating the minerals.

The bill ensures that the owners of the mineral rights who wish to take advantage of these discoveries have the protections they need, as well as ensures that those who do not wish to participate are also protected. Time will tell if geologic hydrogen production in Iowa is a bold new revenue stream or a passing curiosity.

As always, I look forward to seeing you at the Capitol or in the district.

Rep. Dean Fisher’s district covers all of Poweshiek County and most of Tama County excluding the northeast corner.