The legislature has voted to set new state standards for businesses that plan 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. 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 who voted against the bill, says it’s important to disclose things like radioactivity in the area once the well is set up to pump the hydrogen.
