Sponsors (4)
The bill preserves existing BLM waste-prevention standards and levies royalties on previously vented/flared gas to incentivize waste reduction and raise federal revenue, while limiting future royalty expansions — a trade-off that tightens current incentives but raises industry costs, risks higher consumer prices and production impacts, and creates some regulatory uncertainty.
Operators and the public keep and strengthen a waste-reduction framework: the bill preserves the April 10, 2024 BLM waste-prevention rule, imposes royalties on gas previously vented or flared (creating a financial incentive to cut waste), and requires BLM to certify future revisions reduce gas waste or improve air quality.
Federal revenue increases because operators on Federal leases will pay royalties on gas that was previously vented or flared.
By blocking the proposed 2026 royalty rule, the bill avoids potential new royalty charges and higher compliance costs for leaseholders, reducing near-term regulatory burden on producers.
Operators will face higher royalty liabilities and compliance costs, which are likely to be passed through as higher energy prices for consumers and businesses.
Increased costs could cause producers to curtail production or delay investment on federal leases, reducing local jobs and economic activity in affected areas.
Regulatory ambiguity (what counts as 'unavoidably lost') plus the required BLM certifications could create disputes, slowing approvals and increasing administrative and compliance burdens for operators and government.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires royalties on all gas produced from new federal and OCS leases to include gas vented, flared, or lost; enforces the April 10, 2024 waste-prevention rule and limits rule revisions unless certified to reduce waste or improve air quality.
Requires that royalties on natural gas from new federal and Outer Continental Shelf leases apply to all gas produced, including gas vented, flared, or lost during upstream operations, with three narrow exceptions for short emergency flaring, on-lease beneficial use, and unavoidable loss. Directs the BLM to enforce the April 10, 2024 "Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation" final rule, prohibits finalizing a June 24, 2026 proposed rule on royalties for lost gas, and blocks other revisions unless certified to further reduce waste or improve air quality and public health. The bill makes royalty assessment and regulatory enforcement the default for new leases to reduce methane waste, tighten oversight of onshore and offshore production losses, and preserve the 2024 rule unless a future revision can be certified to provide equal or greater waste-reduction or public health benefits.
Official title: To require certain royalties paid for gas produced from Federal land and on the outer Continental Shelf to be assessed on all gas produced, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Luz M. Rivas · Last progress August 6, 2026