Texas energy companies are betting hydrogen can become a cleaner fuel for transportation

Air Liquide’s facility manager Craig Allen at the company's hydrogen storage facility near the site of the historic Spindletop oil well on Sept. 5, 2023 in Beaumont. (Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune)

This is the first of a three-part series on emerging energy sources and Texas' role in developing them. You can read part two, on geothermal energy, here, and part three, on nuclear energy, here.

JEFFERSON COUNTY — A concrete platform with fading blue paint marks the birthplace of the modern oil and gas industry in southeast Texas. Weather-beaten signs describe how drillers tapped the Spindletop oil well in 1901, a discovery that launched petroleum giants Texaco, Mobil and Gulf Oil.