Iowa's Hydrogen Rush: Can Koloma Strike Gold Before Rules Kick In?

Iowa might be sitting on a clean energy goldmine, and Koloma is determined to find out. The Denver-based startup is now drilling its fourth exploratory well in the state, targeting naturally occurring hydrogen deep beneath the Midcontinent Rift. At the same time, Iowa lawmakers are moving fast to build a regulatory framework before the boom gets ahead of itself.

Senate File 546 advanced from a subcommittee on Feb. 5, 2026, with companion bills also clearing the House Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 19. The legislation would update Iowa's oil and gas statutes to cover hydrogen drilling, set landowner royalty standards, and create protections for farmers whose land sits above potential reserves.

The big question, though, hasn't been answered yet: Can geologic hydrogen actually be extracted at commercial scale?

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Why Iowa, Why Now

Koloma, founded in 2021 and backed by $400 million from investors including Amazon, United Airlines, and Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, started exploration in Iowa in 2022. The company has completed three wells and is drilling a fourth, primarily around the Vincent dome area in Webster County, where the U.S. Geological Survey found high hydrogen concentrations back in the 1970s and 1980s.

CEO Pete Johnson testified before Iowa lawmakers on Feb. 11, noting the company is still working through core technical questions. But the market opportunity is hard to ignore.

That fertilizer angle is the near-term play. Iowa is a top corn-producing state, and domestically produced anhydrous ammonia, which requires hydrogen as a key feedstock, could reduce the carbon intensity of corn production while cutting dependence on imported fertilizer. If geologic hydrogen delivers, it could reshape the economics of Midwest agriculture.

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What SF 546 Actually Does

The bill, modeled after regulations in oil-producing states, tackles several gaps in Iowa's existing laws. It broadens the definition of "gas" to explicitly include naturally occurring hydrogen and introduces pooling standards, so companies drilling on one property must negotiate with neighboring landowners.

Johnson himself pushed for the regulation, arguing that lessons from oil and gas booms show that early rules prevent bigger problems down the line.

The Geology Behind the Buzz

Iowa's potential comes down to the Midcontinent Rift, a 1.1-billion-year-old geological formation running through central North America. When water interacts with the rift's iron-rich basalt rocks, it triggers serpentinization, which naturally produces hydrogen gas.

Ryan Clark of the Iowa Geological Survey confirmed that about half a dozen companies have expressed interest in hydrogen exploration in the state. Most have requested basalt core samples, with 11 of 24 available samples located in the Vincent dome region.

The USGS recently published its first continental-scale map of geologic hydrogen potential, and the Midcontinent Rift showed up prominently. That map has only intensified interest in the region.

What Comes Next for Iowa's Hydrogen Play

Let's be clear: no one has made a commercial geologic hydrogen find in Iowa yet. Koloma is still in exploration mode, and the only commercially producing natural hydrogen well on the planet is in Mali, discovered by accident in the 1980s. The gap between investor enthusiasm for geologic hydrogen and proven production remains wide.

But the pieces are lining up. The geology looks promising, the regulatory framework is taking shape, and the demand for affordable clean hydrogen in the fertilizer sector is real and growing. If Koloma or another explorer can prove commercial viability, Iowa's Corn Belt could become one of the most important hydrogen production regions in the country.

For now, it's a story of smart preparation meeting genuine potential. The wells are going in, the laws are getting written, and the industry is watching to see what Iowa pulls out of the ground.