I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7651 

To provide for methane emission detection and mitigation, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 13, 2024 

Mr. CASTEN (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Mr. MULLIN, and 

Mr. BOWMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for methane emission detection and mitigation, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Methane Emissions 

5 Mitigation Research and Development Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. METHANE EMISSION DETECTION AND MITIGATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle F of title IX of the En8 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16291 et seq.) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 969E. METHANE LEAK DETECTION AND MITIGATION. 

2 ‘‘(a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta4 tion with the Administrator of the Environmental 

5 Protection Agency, the Secretary of Commerce, and 

6 the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, 

7 shall carry out a program of methane emissions de8 tection and mitigation research, development, and 

9 demonstration for technologies and methods that 

10 significantly detect, quantify, and mitigate methane 

11 emissions. In carrying out the program, the Sec12 retary shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) enter into cooperative agreements 

14 with State or local governments, institutions of 

15 higher education, or for-profit entities to pro16 vide technical assistance to— 

17 ‘‘(i) prevent or respond to methane re18 leases, including prediction, detection, miti19 gation, quantification, and identification of 

20 leaks, vents, and other outflows throughout 

21 the natural gas infrastructure (including 

22 natural gas storage, pipelines, and natural 

23 gas production sites); and 

24 ‘‘(ii) protect public health in the event 

25 of a major methane release; 


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1 ‘‘(B) in coordination with representatives 

2 from private sector entities, State and local gov3 ernments, and institutions of higher education, 

4 establish a publicly accessible resource for best 

5 practices in the design, construction, mainte6 nance, performance, monitoring, and incident 

7 response for— 

8 ‘‘(i) pipeline systems, including com9 pressor stations; 

10 ‘‘(ii) production wells; 

11 ‘‘(iii) storage facilities; and 

12 ‘‘(iv) other vulnerable infrastructure; 

13 ‘‘(C) in coordination with representatives 

14 from private sector entities, State and local gov15 ernments, and institutions of higher education, 

16 establish a publicly accessible resource for best 

17 practices in evaluation and incorporation of 

18 emission reduction technologies, including— 

19 ‘‘(i) metrics for performance evalua20 tion; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) principles for selection and inte22 gration of emission reduction technologies 

23 that are best suited for the project or enti24 ty concerned; 


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1 ‘‘(D) support research of technologies to 

2 more accurately quantify emissions, including— 

3 ‘‘(i) the ability to accurately charac4 terize and measure methane emissions 

5 through various atmospheric conditions 

6 such as wind, rain, fog, and dust; 

7 ‘‘(ii) improvements to data analytics 

8 and machine learning platforms; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the ability to characterize tem10 poral patterns in emissions, such as 

11 through continuous monitoring or multi12 tiered system practices; 

13 ‘‘(iv) improvements to high-resolution 

14 spectroscopic databases of methane; 

15 ‘‘(v) the ability to remotely detect car16 bon and ethane isotopes to facilitate attri17 bution of sources of methane emissions; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(vi) improvements to Lidar detection 

20 technologies; 

21 ‘‘(E) identify high-risk characteristics of 

22 pipelines, wells, storage facilities, and materials, 

23 geologic risk factors, or other key factors that 

24 increase the likelihood or intensity of methane 

25 emissions leaks; 


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1 ‘‘(F) identify methane mitigation methods 

2 and technologies in coal mines; and 

3 ‘‘(G) in collaboration with private sector 

4 entities and institutions of higher education, 

5 quantify and map significant geologic methane 

6 seeps and other sources of natural emissions 

7 across the United States. 

8 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out the 

9 program under this section, the Secretary shall con10 sider the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) Historical data of methane emissions. 

12 ‘‘(B) Public health consequences. 

13 ‘‘(C) Public safety. 

14 ‘‘(D) Novel materials and designs for pipe15 lines, compressor stations, components, and 

16 wells (including casing, cement, and wellhead). 

17 ‘‘(E) Regional geologic traits. 

18 ‘‘(F) Induced and natural seismicity. 

19 ‘‘(b) METHANE LEAK DETECTION CONSORTIUM.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

21 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

22 Secretary shall establish and operate a Methane 

23 Emissions Measurement and Mitigation Research 

24 Consortium (in this section referred to as the ‘Con25 sortium’) for the purpose of supporting, to the maxVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 20, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7651.IH H7651

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1 imum extent practicable, data sharing, research 

2 prioritization, and researching cooperative leak de3 tection and repair strategies pertaining to methane 

4 emissions detection, quantification, and mitigation. 

5 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the Con6 sortium shall be representatives from the National 

7 Institute of Standards and Technology, other rel8 evant Federal agencies, National Laboratories, oil 

9 and gas operators and industry groups, vendors of 

10 methane detection and quantification technologies, 

11 institutions of higher education, community organi12 zations, relevant nongovernmental organizations, and 

13 other entities. 

14 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Consortium shall 

15 develop and implement a multiyear plan that— 

16 ‘‘(A) identifies technical goals and mile17 stones for the Consortium; and 

18 ‘‘(B) facilitates data sharing for the pur19 poses of— 

20 ‘‘(i) bettering the understanding of 

21 methane emissions from the oil and gas 

22 sector; 

23 ‘‘(ii) improving emissions detection, 

24 measurement, and mitigation capabilities, 


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1 including assessing multi-tiered atmos2 pheric measurements; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) improving the understanding of 

4 methane quantification data analytics and 

5 machine learning platforms, including for 

6 calibration of measurements. 

7 ‘‘(4) REPORTING.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

9 report on the Consortium’s activities to the ap10 propriate congressional committees. 

11 ‘‘(B) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

12 months after the date of the enactment of this 

13 section, the Secretary shall submit to the appro14 priate congressional committees a report sum15 marizing the activities, findings, and progress 

16 of the program under this section. The report 

17 shall include the following: 

18 ‘‘(i) A review of LDAR technologies 

19 available to the oil and gas sector for the 

20 purpose of methane emissions measure21 ment and mitigation. 

22 ‘‘(ii) A summary of research gaps and 

23 priorities related to methane emissions de24 tection, measurement, and mitigation capa25 bilities. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) A description of the data shar2 ing and cooperative activities that have 

3 been initiated pursuant to paragraph 

4 (3)(B). 

5 ‘‘(C) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 

6 one year after the date on which the report 

7 under subparagraph (B) is submitted and an8 nually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 

9 the appropriate congressional committees a re10 port summarizing the activities, findings, and 

11 progress of the program under this section. The 

12 report shall include the following: 

13 ‘‘(i) An updated review of LDAR 

14 technologies available to oil and gas opera15 tors for the purpose of methane emissions 

16 measurement and mitigation. 

17 ‘‘(ii) A description of the state of 

18 methane emissions detection and measure19 ment capabilities. 

20 ‘‘(iii) A summary of research prior21 ities relating to methane emissions detec22 tion, measurement, and mitigation. 

23 ‘‘(iv) An update on the data sharing 

24 and cooperative activities undertaken by 

25 members of the Consortium. 


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1 ‘‘(5) SUNSET; TERMINATION.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

3 provide support to the Consortium for a period 

4 of not more than ten years, subject to the avail5 ability of appropriations. 

6 ‘‘(B) MERIT REVIEW.—Not later than five 

7 years after the date on which the Consortium is 

8 established, the Secretary shall conduct a re9 view to determine whether the Consortium has 

10 achieved the technical goals and milestones 

11 identified under paragraph (3)(A). 

12 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(A) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COM14 MITTEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional 

15 committees’ means the Committee on Science, 

16 Space, and Technology of the House of Rep17 resentatives and the Committee on Energy and 

18 Natural Resources of the Senate. 

19 ‘‘(B) LDAR.—The term ‘LDAR’ means a 

20 technology, program, or activity that is intended 

21 to monitor, detect, measure, or repair methane 

22 leaks. 

23 ‘‘(C) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ 

24 means the Secretary of Energy. 


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1 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary to carry out this section the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) $36,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

5 ‘‘(B) $38,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

6 ‘‘(C) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

7 ‘‘(D) $42,000,000 for fiscal year 2028. 

8 ‘‘(E) $44,000,000 for fiscal year 2029.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

10 in section 1(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 is amend11 ed by adding at the end of the items relating to subtitle 

12 F of title IX of such Act the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 969E. Methane leak detection and mitigation.’’. 

13 (c) NATIONAL FACILITIES FOR TESTING AND INTER14 CALIBRATION PROGRAM RELATING TO METHANE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act and sub17 ject to the availability of appropriations, the Sec18 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Sec19 retary of Energy and the Administrator of the Envi20 ronmental Protection Agency, shall establish a pro21 gram through the National Institute of Standards 

22 and Technology’s Center for Greenhouse Gas Meas23 urements, Standards, and Information established 

24 pursuant to section 10222 of the Research and De25 velopment, Competition, and Innovation Act (Public 


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1 Law 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 18932) that establishes 

2 national facilities to advance methane detection, 

3 quantification, and relevant standards and sup4 porting methods for testing and intercalibration of 

5 methane measurements and the publication and 

6 maintenance of standards for such measurements. 

7 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The facilities estab8 lished under paragraph (1) shall facilitate detection 

9 and quantification of carbon, carbon isotopes, meth10 ane, ethane, and gases associated with such sources, 

11 provide high-resolution spectroscopic reference data 

12 advancing accuracy of remote sensing technologies, 

13 develop methods relating methane concentration ob14 servations to the associated emission fluxes, and fa15 cilitate the rapid performance testing of existing and 

16 new technologies for the measurement of methane 

17 emissions, including testing conditions with a wide 

18 range of the following: 

19 (A) Sizes and extents of emission sources. 

20 (B) Geographic diversity. 

21 (C) Temporal characteristics. 

22 (D) Diversity of atmospheric conditions, 

23 such as wind, rain, fog, clouds, and dust. 

24 (E) Diversity of observing platforms. 


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1 (F) Quantification of atmospheric emission 

2 plumes. 

3 (3) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than two 

4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act and 

5 annually thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall 

6 submit to Congress a report summarizing the activi7 ties, findings, and progress of the program estab8 lished under paragraph (1). 

9 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec11 retary of Commerce to carry out this section the fol12 lowing: 

13 (A) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

14 (B) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

15 (C) $19,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

16 (D) $21,000,000 for fiscal year 2028. 

17 (E) $23,000,000 for fiscal year 2029 and 

18 each fiscal year thereafter. 

Æ 


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