Oil and gas firms must pay for wasted gas from public lands.
H.R. 10065 — Methane Pollution Accountability Act · Filed by Luz Rivas (D-CA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 6, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill makes oil and gas firms pay royalties on all gas they pull from public lands. It also covers offshore leases. This includes gas they waste by venting, flaring, or leaking. The bill locks in a 2024 public rule on waste prevention. It blocks a Trump plan from June 2026 to weaken those rules. A new rule can only replace it if the government confirms it will cut waste. It must also improve air quality.
Who it affects
People gain from cleaner air and better health as methane drops. The public treasury gets money from gas that was wasted for free. Oil and gas firms face a reason to stop leaks and venting.
One thing to notice
The bill only applies to new leases issued after it passes. Old leases from past decades stay exempt. The biggest firms may not be hit right away.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.
- Aug 6, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- royalties — A share of money owed to the public when firms extract resources from public lands.
- venting — Releasing gas into the air instead of capturing it.
- flaring — Burning off gas that cannot be sold or used.
- methane — A gas that traps heat in the air and harms air quality.
- confirms — Officially declares something to be true.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,744 characters) on Aug 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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