Natural Gas Blowout Prevention, Oversight, and Liability Act of 2020

Natural Gas Blowout Prevention, Oversight, and Liability Act of 2020

This bill sets forth federal standards related to natural gas blowouts. A blowout is the loss of control of any well that leads to the release of combusted or uncombusted natural gas into the atmosphere.

Specifically, the bill

• requires operators of wells to report natural gas blowouts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) within 72 hours after a blowout occurs;
• directs the EPA to establish and maintain a public database of all blowouts;
• imposes penalties for natural gas or flared natural gas that is released as a result of a well blowout, based on the volume released;
• establishes a grant program to reduce the scale and regularity of blowouts and the burden to states and local governments with respect to emergency responses to blowouts; and
• directs the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board to submit a report that describes each natural gas blowout from the past 10 years and includes recommendations to reduce the number of blowouts.