I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5636 
To provide for the accurate reporting of fossil fuel extraction and emissions 
by entities with leases on public land, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2020 
Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for the accurate reporting of fossil fuel extraction 
and emissions by entities with leases on public land, 
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 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) REPORT REQUIRED FOR AN ENTITY SEEKING A 
LEASE.—The Secretary shall require any entity seeking 
a lease to develop covered operations on public land to sub-
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mit to the Secretary a report, at the time of submission 
of a bid to develop covered operations. Such report shall— 
(1) make the disclosures described in the Sus-
tainable Accounting Standard for the Extractives 
and Minerals Processing Sector and the Renewable 
Resources and Alternative Energy Sector in effect 
on the date the report is filed (that is produced by 
the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) for 
the covered operations developed by the entity and 
in effect at the date of such bid; and 
(2) disaggregate the information in paragraph 1 
by State and by type of covered operation. 
(b) REPORT REQUIRED FOR AN ENTITY HOLDING A 
LEASE.—The Secretary shall require any entity holding 
a lease to develop covered operations on public land to sub-
mit to the Secretary a report annually. Such report 
shall— 
(1) make the disclosures described in the Sus-
tainable Accounting Standard for the Extractives 
and Minerals Processing Sector and the Renewable 
Resources and Alternative Energy Sector in effect 
on the date the report is filed (that is produced by 
the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board); 
and 
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(2) disaggregate the information in paragraph 1 
by State and by type of covered operation. 
(c) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If the Secretary deter-
mines that an entity did not meet the requirements of sub-
section (a), the Secretary— 
(1) may not issue to such entity a lease for a 
covered operation; and 
(2) may suspend a lease for a covered operation 
held by such entity. 
SEC. 3. ONLINE PUBLICATION OF DISCLOSURE. 
The Secretary shall make the information reported 
under section 2 available to the public on an internet 
website in a machine readable format. 
SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Sec-
retary shall submit a report to Congress that includes— 
(1) with respect to covered operations, the an-
nual and 2-year totals of greenhouse gas emissions, 
air quality, water management, biodiversity impacts, 
production, and number of sites according to the 
metrics described in the Sustainable Accounting 
Standard for Oil and Gas Exploration and Produc-
tion in effect on the date the report is filed (that is 
produced by the Sustainability Accounting Stand-
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ards Board) for covered operations on public land; 
and 
(2) the changes in the information in paragraph 
1; 
(3) the projected future changes for 5, 10, and 
25 years; and 
(4) for renewable energy operations, an esti-
mate of the greenhouse gas emissions that would re-
sult from production of the same amount of energy 
using fossil fuels. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COVERED OPERATION.—The term ‘‘covered 
operation’’ means— 
(A) any renewable energy operations; and 
(B) fossil fuel operations that 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.). 
(2) FOSSIL
FUEL.—The term ‘‘fossil fuel’’ 
means oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and coal. 
(3) PUBLIC
LAND.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 103 of the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
(43 U.S.C. 1702). 
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(4) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew-
able energy’’ means a project carried out on public 
land that uses wind, solar, geothermal, wave, cur-
rent, tidal, or ocean thermal energy to generate elec-
tricity. 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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