MERP Clarifications Act of 2025

Key Points

• Small oil and gas producers with fewer than 2,500 employees and lower emissions would be completely exempt from federal methane fees and reporting requirements. The EPA cannot force these companies to prove they qualify — the burden falls on the agency to identify and notify them.
• Companies that comply with existing EPA air pollution rules (subparts OOOOb and OOOOc) and are in states with approved implementation plans would also be exempt from methane charges, regardless of size.
• No methane fees can be collected from any company until all federal emission-reduction grants have been fully distributed and the EPA has finalized validated emissions measurement methods — potentially delaying the start of charges by a year or more.
• The EPA must publish a plain-English guide within 60 days explaining how it calculates pollution charges, and must disclose every consultant, academic institution, and outside organization that helped develop the measurement methods.
• The entire methane fee program expires on December 31, 2034. If Congress doesn't renew it, the EPA must immediately stop collecting fees, and companies can sue the government for damages if it continues to charge them after that date.