(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has voted to set new state standards for businesses that hope to extract hydrogen from underground reservoirs and rocks. Senator Derek Wulf, a Republican from Hudson, says the bill provides a consistent framework that strengthens the rights of Iowans who own land above an underground pool of hydrogen.
“Hydrogen is not some far off idea anymore. It is quickly becoming one of the most important pieces of the future of new energy economy whether we’re talking about fertilizer production, industrial use or new low carbon fuels,” Wulf said. “…Iowa is well positioned to be part of that future.” The bill requires written permission from a landowner before the operator of a hydrogen well can enter the extraction site and landowners would be able to tell a company they don’t want to have further contact.
The bill sets up a state tax on any hydrogen extracted from Iowa and gives companies pumping hydrogen out of the ground up to five years of confidentiality about the operation. Representative Elinor Levin, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it’s important to disclose things like radioactivity in the area once the well is set up to pump the hydrogen. “More than anything what it does is it protects Iowa’s groundwater and aquifers,” Levin said, “and it ensures that our state will have access to the data we need about what’s going on underneath our feet.”
At least 25 percent of landowners above an underground pool of hydrogen would have to agree for a company to explore and build an extraction well, but Senator Mike Bouselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says all landowners would be compensated by the company. “Landowners, regardless of whether or not that drill is on their property, would be compensated for hydrogen that is produced from underneath their land,” Bousselot said.
Drilling would have to reach to up two miles under the Earth’s surface to reach the pools of hydrogen companies believe may be underneath about 28 percent of Iowa.
