I haven't worked in the industry, but a family member does and owns several wells (ie the mineral rights) in Texas, passed down from their deceased parent who was a rig worker.

If you would be so kind as to suggest resources so that I can better educate myself in this domain for any missing nuance, I am open to any and all resources, including me traveling on my own dime to speak with a subject matter expert in person (who I am willing to compensate at a reasonable hourly rate).

Talk to people working in oil and gas at the executive level, or even better, try selling stuff to them. Oil and gas operates on a very different mindset than the nibbling-at-margins product-led-growth models that are so prevalent on HN.

The only metric that matters at the end of the day is how to print more money i.e. drill more oil. Literally nothing else matters, and compliance goes to the lowest bidder to make the problem go away. Right now that means playing nice with the whitehouse and hopefully bypassing the rest of the pesky EPA. I assure you not a single person in oil and gas likes the EPA, nor the infamous Subpart W.