I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3140 
To require Federal oil and gas leases to report and pay royalties on oil 
and gas production based on the actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn 
under a lease, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2015 
Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To require Federal oil and gas leases to report and pay 
royalties on oil and gas production based on the actual 
volume of oil and gas withdrawn under a lease, and 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 ‘‘Accounting for Meth-
ane in Production through Loophole Elimination with Oil 
and Gas Royalties’’ or the ‘‘AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Some of the mineral resources owned by the 
Federal Government on behalf of United States tax-
payers are being developed inefficiently, costing tax-
payers millions of dollars in lost royalties, especially 
with respect to vented, flared, and leaked natural 
gas. The Government Accountability Office esti-
mates that approximately 40 percent of natural gas 
could be economically captured from Federal on-
shore leases, which would increase Federal royalty 
payments by approximately $23,000,000 and reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to up to 16.5 
million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equiv-
alent to annual emissions from 3.1 million cars. 
(2) Significant emissions of natural gas are as-
sociated with oil and gas production and transpor-
tation, including oil and gas produced on Federal 
lands. According to a University of Maryland study, 
these emissions can negatively impact air quality 
hundreds of miles away. 
(3) Methane has a much greater impact on cli-
mate change than carbon dioxide, and the methane 
emissions from oil and gas production can greatly 
diminish the benefit of using natural gas to help re-
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duce the carbon intensity of the United States fuel 
mix. 
(4) Available control technologies exist to eco-
nomically capture a considerable amount of natural 
gas and resulting in taxpayers being delivered the 
royalties they deserve. 
(5) Requiring royalty payments on natural gas 
that is currently flared, vented, unavoidably lost, and 
used for beneficial purposes will lead to more effi-
cient use of Federal resources, reduce greenhouse 
gas emissions, and increase royalty payments to the 
Federal Government. 
SEC. 3. VOLUME ALLOCATION OF OIL AND GAS PRODUC-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111(k) of the Federal Oil 
and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 
1721(k)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(k) VOLUME ALLOCATION OF OIL AND GAS PRO-
DUCTION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided by this subsection— 
‘‘(A) a lessee or its designee of a lease in 
a unit or communitization agreement that con-
tains only Federal leases with the same royalty 
rate and funds distribution shall report and pay 
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of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Manage-
ment Act of 1982’’; and 
(4) in section 31(f)(4) (30 U.S.C. 188(f)(4)), 
by striking ‘‘production removed or sold from the oil 
placer mining claim’’ and inserting ‘‘oil and gas 
withdrawn from the reservoir in accordance with sec-
tion 111(k) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty 
Management Act of 1982’’. 
(c) APPLICATION.—This section, including the 
amendments made by this section, shall not apply with 
respect to any lease issued before the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
Æ 
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