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H.R.1881 / 119th Congress

Methane Reduction and Economic Growth Act

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Official summary

No official summary is available in the imported record yet.

Who introduced it

Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] · R–WV

Committees

  • Ways and Means Committee
10 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.

  1. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

  2. Introduced in House

  3. Introduced in House

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

Source last updated: Sep 2, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

Explore the bill from different angles

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Neutral evidence review

Objective

Analyze H.R.1881 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.

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Fairness and public impact

Progressive lens

Examine H.R.1881 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.

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Institutions and government scope

Conservative lens

Examine H.R.1881 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.

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Individual rights and government power

Liberty lens

Examine H.R.1881 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.

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Read the proposal in plain language

AI-generated · Source-checked by AI · Nov 5, 2026

Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-05 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.

What it would do

The proposed Methane Reduction and Economic Growth Act would extend a federal tax credit to qualifying methane captured from mining activities, including abandoned or closed mines. Eligibility would depend on using the captured gas for energy, meeting measurement requirements, starting construction before specified deadlines and capturing a minimum annual amount. The supplied evidence does not establish that this proposal became law.

Check the sources
This Act may be cited as the Methane Reduction and Economic Growth Act.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
Mine methane capture incentive credit (a) In general Section 45Q(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
is captured from mining activities, including underground mines, abandoned or closed mines, or surface mines, by methane capture equipment
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
(I) the construction of which begins before January 1, 2036, (II) for which construction of methane capture equipment begins before such date, and (III) which captures not less than 2,500 metric tons of CO2e methane during the taxable year
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
is measured at the source of capture and verified at the point of injection or utilization.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
otherwise used for producing heat (for industrial use or to heat a structure) or other energy
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-02T08:06:40Z. 2025-03-05: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. 2025-03-05: Introduced in House
Official legislative record · 2026-09-02T08:06:40Z

How it would work

Section 2 would adapt the existing Section 45Q tax credit for qualifying methane. It would replace the credit's reference to metric tons of qualifying carbon oxide with metric tons of qualifying methane measured in CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent. The bill references a definition in Section 45Z(d)(2) but does not reproduce that definition or specify the credit's dollar rate.

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Section 45Q(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05
paragraph (4) of subsection (a) shall be applied— (I) by substituting per metric ton of CO2e (as defined in section 45Z(d)(2)) of qualified methane for per metric ton of qualified carbon oxide, (II) by substituting methane capture equipment for carbon capture equipment
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

One qualifying energy-use route would require the taxpayer to inject methane into a pipeline meeting the cited federal pipeline-integrity, leak-monitoring and preventive-measure requirements, or into a gathering system feeding such a pipeline. A gathering system collects gas and carries it to a pipeline.

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injected by the taxpayer for energy use— (I) in a pipeline which satisfies the pipeline integrity management guidelines of section 192 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, and is in compliance with instrumental leak monitoring and other preventive and mitigative measures under section 192.935 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or (II) in a gathering system that feeds a pipeline described in subclause (I)
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

Alternatively, captured methane could be used to produce industrial heat, heat a building or produce other energy. This route would allow no more than a negligible release of methane into the atmosphere; the bill calls that limit “de-minimis” but supplies no numerical threshold.

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otherwise used for producing heat (for industrial use or to heat a structure) or other energy, in a manner that does not involve more than de-minimis release of methane into the atmosphere
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

A qualifying facility would be an individual methane source at a mining facility, such as a borehole, well or vent shaft. Construction of both that source and its methane-capture equipment would have to begin before January 1, 2036. The source would also have to capture at least 2,500 metric tons of methane measured in carbon dioxide equivalent during the tax year. The 2036 date is a construction-start deadline, not an express cutoff for all credit claims.

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the term qualified facility shall mean any individual source of qualified methane such as borehole, well, or vent shaft constructed at a mining facility— (I) the construction of which begins before January 1, 2036, (II) for which construction of methane capture equipment begins before such date, and (III) which captures not less than 2,500 metric tons of CO2e methane during the taxable year
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

Qualifying methane would have to be captured by methane-capture equipment from mining activities, including underground, abandoned, closed or surface mines. It must otherwise have been released into the atmosphere as an industrial greenhouse-gas emission, or led to such a release. Its amount must be measured where it is captured and verified where it is injected or used.

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the term qualified methane means any methane which— (i) is captured from mining activities, including underground mines, abandoned or closed mines, or surface mines, by methane capture equipment, (ii) would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as industrial emission of greenhouse gas or lead to such release, and (iii) is measured at the source of capture and verified at the point of injection or utilization.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

Eligible methane-capture equipment would mean equipment built to capture qualifying methane by connecting a qualifying source to an existing or new pipeline system, or to energy-generation equipment.

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the term ‘methane capture equipment’ means equipment built to connect a qualified facility to— (i) a preexisting or new pipeline system, or (ii) to energy generation equipment, to capture qualified methane from such source.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

The proposal would also substitute methane terminology into five specified parts of Section 45Q. Those existing provisions are not reproduced, so the supplied text does not fully explain the additional eligibility, administration or enforcement rules that would apply.

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this section shall be applied by substituting methane capture for carbon capture and qualified methane for qualified carbon oxide in subsections (b)(2), (f)(1), (f)(4), (h), and (i)(1).
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-05

What the record shows

The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated September 2, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Ways and Means on March 5, 2025. It provides no later legislative action; that omission does not establish whether the bill later advanced or became law.

Check the source
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-02T08:06:40Z. 2025-03-05: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. 2025-03-05: Introduced in House
Official legislative record · 2026-09-02T08:06:40Z

Riders & Targeted Benefits

Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-05. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.

This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.

Riders

Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.

None identified in the reviewed text

No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.

Earmarks

Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.

None identified in the reviewed text

No congressionally directed spending for a particular recipient or place was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark disclosures and accompanying materials are not supplied.

Other targeted benefits

Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.

None identified in the reviewed text

No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption or preferential exception beyond the proposed credit's ordinary eligibility rules was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. A program's intended beneficiaries alone do not warrant a finding. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.

What this analysis cannot establish

  • The supplied full text is the introduced House version dated March 5, 2025. It establishes proposed language, not enacted law. The supplied actions snapshot does not establish subsequent passage, amendment or enactment.
  • The bundle does not reproduce the existing tax-code provisions or pipeline regulations incorporated by reference. The credit rate, full eligibility rules, claim duration, administrative procedures and enforcement consequences cannot be determined completely from this text.
  • The proposal requires measurement and verification but does not specify a verification method or verifier. It also does not quantify the permitted “de-minimis” methane release.
  • No fiscal estimate, member earmark disclosures, committee reports or conference materials are supplied. The text does not establish the proposal's fiscal cost, actual emissions effects or formal earmark status in accompanying materials.

Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 2, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI