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.