Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2021

Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2021

This bill requires certain disclosures by entities seeking a lease or holding a lease to develop renewable energy operations or fossil fuel operations on public lands or Indian lands or any operation using any right-of-way or special use permit that would cross public lands, Indian lands, or national forests that would facilitate fossil fuel development. The disclosures are those described in the Sustainability Accounting Standard for the Renewable Resources and Alternative Energy Sector or the Extractives and Mineral Processing Sector.

Every two years, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture must report to Congress on such operations, including greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, water management, biodiversity impacts, production, and the number of sites. For renewable energy operations on public lands or Indian lands, the report must include greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the production of the same amount of energy using fossil fuels.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1506 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1506

  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

                             March 2, 2021

Mr. Lowenthal (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Levin of California, Ms. 
Lee of California, and Ms. Porter) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to 
     the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transparency in Energy Production 
Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Report Required for an Entity Seeking a Lease.--The Secretary 
concerned shall require any entity seeking a lease to develop covered 
operations on public land to submit to the Secretary concerned a 
report, at the time of submission of a bid to develop covered 
operations. Such report shall--
            (1) make the disclosures described in the Sustainable 
        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 
concerned shall require any entity holding a lease to develop covered 
operations on public land to submit to the Secretary concerned a report 
annually. Such report shall--
            (1) make the disclosures described in the Sustainable 
        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
            (2) disaggregate the information in paragraph 1 by State 
        and by type of covered operation.
    (c) Failure To Comply.--If the Secretary concerned determines that 
an entity did not meet the requirements of subsection (a), the 
Secretary concerned--
            (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 concerned 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 enactment of this Act 
and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary concerned shall submit a 
report to Congress that includes--
            (1) with respect to covered operations, the annual 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 Production 
        in effect on the date the report is filed (that is produced by 
        the Sustainability Accounting Standards 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 estimate of the 
        greenhouse gas emissions that would result from production of 
        the same amount of energy using fossil fuels and water 
        management, including water use, biodiversity impacts, 
        production, number of sites, and acres including associated 
        transmission lines.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``covered operation'' means--
                    (A) any renewable energy operations;
                    (B) any fossil fuel operation; and
                    (C) any operation using any right-of-way or special 
                use permit that would cross public lands or national 
                forests that would facilitate fossil fuel development;
            (2) the term ``fossil fuel'' means oil, natural gas, 
        natural gas liquids, coal, and any derivative of these that is 
        used for fuel;
            (3) the term ``public land'' means any land, interest in 
        land, or submerged land owned by the United States;
            (4) the term ``renewable energy'' means a project carried 
        out on public land that uses wind, solar, geothermal, wave, 
        current, tidal, or ocean thermal energy to generate 
        electricity; and
            (5) the term ``Secretary concerned'' means--
                    (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to 
                public lands; and
                    (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
                National Forest System land.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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