Congress blocks EPA methane emissions charge for oil and gas
H.J.Res. 35 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems: Procedures for Facilitating Compliance, Including Netting and Exemptions". · Filed by August Pfluger (R-TX) · 19 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 4, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This resolution uses the Congressional Review Act to block an EPA rule that would charge oil and gas companies for methane emissions from their operations and set procedures for how companies can comply, including netting emissions reductions and claiming exemptions. The rule is nullified and cannot take effect.
Why we flagged it
This is a straightforward Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution that nullifies an EPA environmental compliance rule. It uses the CRA's expedited process to block a regulation without substantive debate, which is the mechanism's intended use but represents a deregulatory outcome.
What the text implies
- Blocking the rule eliminates not just the charge itself but also the EPA's procedural framework for netting and exemptions, removing regulatory clarity that operators could have relied on for compliance planning.
- The disapproval may signal congressional intent to block future EPA methane regulations, potentially emboldening industry challenges to related rules under the Administrative Procedure Act.
- Methane emissions from oil and gas operations are a significant contributor to climate change; removing this charge reduces a market-based incentive for emissions reduction and shifts climate-mitigation burden to other sectors or future regulation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Blocking the methane emissions charge removes a financial incentive for oil and gas operators to reduce methane leakage, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and poses public health risks. Citizens lose a regulatory tool designed to internalize environmental costs and reduce atmospheric pollution.
Who stands to gain
- oil and gas operators
- petroleum and natural gas extraction companies
Named in the bill
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), oil and gas industry, petroleum and natural gas systems operators, Congress
Where it stands
19 cosponsors: 19 Republicans.
- Feb 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Feb 26, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 220 - 206, 1 Present (Roll no. 52). (text: CR H846)”
- Feb 27, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed/agreed to in Senate: Received in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed…”
- Mar 4, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Mar 14, 2025 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-2”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 10 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $55,900,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
August Pfluger, the sponsor, reported $1,070,325 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $5,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 on 3 filings
- Independent Petroleum Association of America — $500,000 on 2 filings
- Oneok Inc. — $460,000 on 2 filings
- Southern Environmental Law Center — $200,000 on 2 filings
- Sierra Club — $80,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,321 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress blocks EPA methane emissions charge for oil and gas” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hjres35 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.