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Michigan is investing $7.5 million dollars to research and explore geologic hydrogen — a clean energy source buried beneath the state that experts say could power a transition away from fossil fuels.
When hydrogen fuel burns, the only byproduct is water. There’s no greenhouse gases or other harmful air pollutants emitted, unlike natural gas.
A large, usable store of hydrogen could help clean up heavy industries like trucking or steel and cement manufacturing in the form of fuel cells, said Kevin Mehren, director of the Michigan Infrastructure Office.
Energy production — including natural gas plants — and transportation are the top sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Michigan, according to state data.
“(Geologic hydrogen) is a major decarbonization tool, I think one of the strongest that we have come across,” Mehren said. “It has massive potential across all aspects of our economy, just to fill gaps and provide a new energy source for us.”
A 2025 study from the U.S. Geological Survey mapped out areas around the country with a lot of potential for buried hydrogen, with Michigan on the higher end. The study prompted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in January to direct state resources into more research, from which the recent funding announcement stemmed.
Mehren hopes this potential can translate into a new industry in the state, depending on what further research reveals. “The goal here really is to determine: Is it there? Can we access it? And can this be the tool that we hope it is?” he said.
A portion of this initial funding will support research on the areas in Michigan that might store a lot of natural hydrogen, like the northern Lower Peninsula.
The state sits on top of what’s called the Midcontinent Rift. It’s where the North American continent started splitting apart more than 1 billion years ago, then stopped.
It formed the Michigan Basin — a geologic formation that puts the younger, newer rocks in the middle of the state and deeper, older material — places where hydrogen might have formed — closer to the basin’s edges, like in Detroit or Traverse City.
Existing infrastructure for drilling in the region might also make it a good spot for research, said Brian Ellis, an associate professor at the University of Michigan and co-director of MI Hydrogen, the school’s hydrogen research program.
Wells for oil and natural gas drilling dot northern Michigan, and the region is home to some of the most productive gas fields in the state.
“We haven’t typically been looking for hydrogen in the past when we’ve drilled these wells,” Ellis said. “So there’s opportunity to potentially data mine information that we already have and see if there’s hydrogen.”
Ellis hopes that some of the initial state money can also attract federal funding in the future. The U.S. Department of Energy funded about $20 million in 2024 for projects related to geologic hydrogen, and national laboratories have conducted early research in this growing field.
“That’s the kind of thing the federal government should be supporting. Those high risk, high reward opportunities where we really grow our knowledge base,” he said.
Despite the Trump administration’s hostility toward clean energy, experts said they're optimistic this research matches federal priorities. President Trump has pushed for more domestic oil and gas production by expanding drilling and rolling back environmental regulations.
But Mehren said geologic hydrogen might be a uniquely bipartisan issue.
“You are ostensibly drilling — ‘Drill, baby, drill’ is the catchphrase they use — for zero-emission energy,” he said. “It’s a domestic resource, but you are providing a new clean resource that could be an economic driver, decarbonize industry, help fight climate change.”
