S. 481: Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-03-01 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2017-03-01 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Act of 2017

Plain summary

Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Act of 2017 This bill withdraws the Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Area in Colorado from: (1) entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. In exchange for the relinquishment of all of the North Thompson Divide leases or South Thompson Divide leases of a leaseholder, the Department of the Interior may issue to such leaseholder credits for bid, royalty, or rental payments due under federal oil and gas leases on federal land in Colorado. Upon relinquishment, such leases shall be permanently canceled and shall not be reissued. As a condition for relinquishing South Thompson Divide leases, a leaseholder must permanently relinquish, transfer, and otherwise convey to Interior all of its Wolf Creek Storage Field development rights, excluding any storage rights or related activities within the area. Interior shall: (1) complete, or shall collaborate with state agencies or institutions of higher education in Colorado to complete, an inventory of all significant methane emissions in the North Fork Valley, including emissions from active, inactive, and abandoned coal mines; (2) carry out a program to lease federal methane from such mines; and (3) enter into discussions to develop a program to facilitate the sale and delivery of such methane that has not been leased to at least one rural electric utility, municipal utility, or energy cooperative with service area boundaries within 100 miles of Paonia, Colorado, to demonstrate the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits of producing electrical power from methane collected from coal mines.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Act of 2017

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] · 0 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] reported raising $226,248 (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (2)

Appropriation: Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s481.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>

Record fed-us-cong115-s481 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115