Governor Gretchen Whitmer has directed state agencies to assess regulations for drilling geologic hydrogen, a potential clean fuel buried beneath Michigan. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study highlights the state as a promising location due to its geological features. Experts see it as a way to reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like shipping and trucking.
Michigan is positioning itself as a potential hub for geologic hydrogen, a naturally occurring clean energy resource found deep underground. Last month, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that her administration aims to leverage this untapped reserve to aid the shift from fossil fuels. The U.S. currently produces millions of tons of hydrogen annually for energy-intensive industries such as heavy trucking and shipping, but the process is costly and energy-heavy, often relying on fossil fuels.
Geologic hydrogen forms through processes like water reacting with iron-rich rocks or the slow decay of certain rocks over millions to billions of years. One hypothesis posits continuous seepage from Earth's core since the planet's formation 4.5 billion years ago. Accessing it requires drilling, as these deposits lie deep within the crust.
A 2025 U.S. Geological Survey study identified Michigan as a key area for potential reserves, attributing this to the Midcontinent Rift, where the North American continent began splitting over 1 billion years ago before halting. Matt Schrenk, a geomicrobiology professor at Michigan State University, explained: “This represents, potentially, a pathway for which deep hydrogen can come up closer to the surface and be collected and extracted.” The state's Michigan Basin structure, resembling a bowl, places deeper, hydrogen-forming rocks near the edges, including areas around Detroit and Traverse City.
However, the study cautions that many deposits may be too deep, offshore, or small for economic recovery. Similar potential exists in southern Oklahoma and northeastern Kansas.
When burned, hydrogen produces only water and heat, emitting no carbon, making it ideal for decarbonizing sectors like shipping where electrification is challenging. Todd Allen, co-director of MI Hydrogen at the University of Michigan, noted that extracting geologic hydrogen uses far less energy than industrial production: “You may have some local energy used to run the drill, but the amount of zero-carbon energy you could get if there’s a lot of geologic hydrogen I think is a bigger advantage.”
Challenges remain, including determining viable drilling sites and concentrations. Schrenk emphasized: “OK, you find it, is there enough of it to be useful? Is it concentrated enough to be useful? Do you have to drill a hole 20 kilometers in the Earth to extract it? We need the data about where it is to identify whether there are practical solutions to extract it.” Infrastructure development, such as pipelines, would also be costly and time-intensive.
Whitmer's executive directive mandates reviews of existing drilling regulations, originally designed for resources like natural gas, by agencies including the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, and the Public Service Commission. Reports are due by April. Allen described it as early days: “It’s still ‘too soon to tell’ how big of an industry geologic hydrogen could be... You’re sort of right there at the beginning of the story. And there’s some opportunities for people to sort of nudge that story in a good direction.”
