I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4126 
To provide for the accurate reporting of fossil fuel production and emissions 
from public lands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 25, 2017 
Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. 
CURBELO of Florida, and Ms. TSONGAS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for the accurate reporting of fossil fuel production 
and emissions from public lands, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency in En-
ergy Production Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. ONLINE PUBLICATION OF CARBON EMISSIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 
make available to the public through the internet— 
(1) information that describes for all covered 
operations— 
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(A) the aggregate amount of each fossil 
fuel, by type and by State, produced under Fed-
eral leases; and 
(B) for gas reported, the portion and 
source of such amount that was released by 
each of venting, flaring, and fugitive release; 
(2) information that accurately describes the es-
timated amounts of existing fossil fuel resources on 
Federal lands under lease for the production of fossil 
fuels, and of Federal lands that have potential for 
such leasing; and 
(3) information that describes the amount and 
sources of energy, in megawatts, produced from op-
erating solar, wind, and geothermal projects on Fed-
eral lands under lease for the production of renew-
able energy. 
(b) FORMAT.—Information made available under this 
section shall be presented in a format that— 
(1) translates such amounts and portions into 
emissions of metric tons of greenhouse gases ex-
pressed in carbon-dioxide equivalent using both the 
20-year and 100-year Global Warming Potential- 
weighted emission values; 
(2) for energy produced from solar, wind, and 
geothermal projects, includes an estimate of the 
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greenhouse gas emissions that would result from 
production of the same amount of energy from fossil 
fuel resources; and 
(3) allows— 
(A) downloading in a machine readable 
format; and 
(B) accessing the information without pay-
ment of any fee or other charge. 
(c) DATA PUBLICATION FREQUENCY.—The data 
made available under this section shall be updated at least 
annually. 
SEC. 3. ACCURATE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING OF 
METHANE 
EMISSIONS 
FROM 
FEDERAL 
LANDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, if the Secretary of the 
Interior determines that revisions or promulgation of rules 
are needed to implement section 2 with regard to methane 
emissions, the Secretary shall initiate a process under the 
Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 
(30 U.S.C. 1711 et seq.), the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 181 et seq.), or other applicable law to promulgate 
regulations to require accurate measuring and reporting 
to the Secretary, by each holder of a lease for the produc-
tion of fossil fuels on Federal land, of the actual amount 
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of methane gas produced under such lease, including all 
such gas not sold by or on behalf of the lessee. 
(b) REPORTING OF GASES.—The rules shall include 
requirements for reporting by holders of leases, to the 
maximum extent possible, the amount and source of all 
vented, flared, and fugitive releases of gas resulting from 
the production of fossil fuels from Federal lands. 
SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Every 2 years, the Secretary shall submit a report 
to Congress that includes— 
(1) efforts underway by the Department of the 
Interior to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from 
covered operations on Federal lands and waters; 
(2) plans for future reductions in greenhouse 
gas emissions from covered operations on Federal 
lands and waters; and 
(3) the amount of greenhouse gas emissions re-
ductions resulting from such efforts and plans that 
have been observed during the period covered by the 
report, and the amount of such reductions that are 
expected in the future. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COVERED
OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov-
ered operations’’ means all fossil fuel operations that 
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are subject to the mineral leasing laws or title V of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (30 U.S.C. 1761 et seq.), regardless of size, in-
cluding production, storage, gathering, processing, 
transportation, and handling operations. 
(2) FLARING.—The term ‘‘flaring’’ means the 
intentional and controlled burning of gas that occurs 
in the course of oil and gas or coal operations. 
(3) FOSSIL
FUEL.—The term ‘‘fossil fuel’’ 
means all natural fuels, including oil, natural gas, 
natural gas liquids, and coal. 
(4) FUGITIVE
RELEASE.—The term ‘‘fugitive 
release’’ means the unintentional and uncontrolled 
release of gas into the atmosphere in the course of 
oil and gas or coal operations. 
(5) GLOBAL
WARMING
POTENTIAL-WEIGHTED 
EMISSION.—The term ‘‘Global Warming Potential- 
weighted emission’’ means the ratio of the time-inte-
grated radiative forcing from the instantaneous re-
lease of 1 kilogram of a trace substance relative to 
that of 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide, measured in 
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent for each 
greenhouse gas according to the most recent, and 
any subsequent, decisions by the Intergovernmental 
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Panel on Climate Change regarding global warming 
potentials. 
(6) RESOURCES.—The term ‘‘resources’’ means 
oil, gas, and coal resources, both identified and in-
ferred, that are both technically recoverable and eco-
nomically recoverable using the range of past, and 
predicted future, commodity prices. 
(7) VENTING.—The term ‘‘venting’’ means the 
intentional and controlled release of gas into the at-
mosphere in the course of oil and gas operations. 
(8) PRODUCED AND PRODUCTION.—The terms 
‘‘produced’’ and ‘‘production’’ mean extracted, 
mined, withdrawn, sold, stored, released (including 
release by venting, flaring, or fugitive release), 
flared, used for beneficial purposes, or otherwise 
emitted during production. 
Æ 
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