In towns across Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and beyond, oil built more than wells. It built the diners, hardware stores, schools, and Friday night football crowds that grew up around it. For families who have worked the rigs for generations, the industry is not just a job but an identity.
So when people talk about the energy transition, I understand why many in oil country hear something else entirely: that their way of life is being written off. That fear is not imagined, and I do not believe it should be dismissed. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, employment in U.S. oil and gas extraction fell to 115,100 in June 2026, down from 187,300 in January 2016, even as production stayed near record highs.
People who remain in the business have good reason to worry about where their industry is heading. The consequences reach far beyond oil country. When conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz this year, the World Bank reported that urea fertilizer prices climbed above $850 per metric ton in April, up 80 percent since February.
Nitrogen fertilizer depends on hydrogen, and most of it is still made from natural gas. To me, that means the cost of feeding a family is tied to where and how we produce hydrogen. But I believe the energy transition does not have to leave the experts who kept the oil and gas industry thriving behind.
The problem is that we keep framing it as a fight between the industry that built these communities and the cleaner energy future we need. That framing protects no one. It leaves workers anxious, slows investment, and hands other countries the chance to lead.
There is a better path, and it runs straight through the skills oil country already has. Natural hydrogen forms and collects underground, much like natural gas. This makes it unlike other forms of hydrogen, not only by being naturally formed, but also by its potential to be the lowest-cost and most environmentally friendly hydrogen at our disposal.
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