**Statement of Robert M. Hirsch**

**Associate Director for Water**

**United States Geological Survey**

**U.S. Department of the Interior\
Before the**

**Subcommittee on Water and Power**

**Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources**

**on**

**H.R. 902, \"More Water and More Energy Act of 2007\"**

**April 25, 2007**

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am Dr. Robert M. Hirsch,
Associate Director for Water for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I
thank you for the opportunity to provide the views of the Department of
the Interior on H.R. 902, the \"More Water and More Energy Act of
2007.\"

The Department agrees that the goals of the bill are commendable, but we
have concerns regarding the availability of funding and the
Administration's priorities. In addition, the USGS and Bureau of
Reclamation (Reclamation) currently have sufficient authority to carry
out the types of activities authorized by H.R. 902.

Water is the lifeblood of the American West and the foundation of its
economy, yet it is also the scarcest resource in some of the fastest
growing areas of the country. Seeking to remove the obstacles to putting
produced waters to beneficial use is important to our Nation's energy
and water future.

H.R. 902 requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Commissioner of Reclamation, and the Director of the USGS, to conduct a
study to identify the technical, economic, environmental, legal, and
other obstacles to increasing the extent to which produced water can be
used for irrigation and other purposes; and the legislative,
administrative, and other actions that could reduce or eliminate such
obstacles. It further requires the Secretary, within existing
authorities, and subject to the availability of funds, appropriated for
the purpose, to provide financial assistance for at least four
demonstration projects. The \$4 million authorized for demonstration
project grants would be used to develop facilities to demonstrate the
feasibility, effectiveness, and safety of the processes to increase the
extent produced water may be used for irrigation and other purposes.

**Background**

Development of energy resources, such as oil, natural gas, and coalbed
methane, produces water, sometimes in volumes that are difficult and
costly to manage. Often the produced water is of such poor quality that
subsurface disposal is an essential cost of production. Streams and
aquifers can be contaminated by improper handling of produced water or
the failure of disposal systems. The major concerns over produced water
are potential impacts on soils, water, and the biota that depend on the
soil and water. Where produced water quality is unsuitable for
irrigation, industrial, or domestic uses, it can be disposed of by deep
well injection, evaporation, or after appropriate treatment, percolation
or discharge into surface water drainages.

Prior to environmental regulations in the 1970s, produced waters, which
are often highly saline (3,000 to more than 350,000 mg/L total dissolved
solids) and may contain toxic metals, organic and inorganic components,
and naturally occurring radioactive materials, were commonly discharged
into streams, creeks, and unlined evaporation ponds, causing salt crusts
and surface- and ground-water contamination. These past practices and
current accidental releases of produced water are national issues that
concern managers of Native American, Federal, and State lands, as well
as oil and gas producers, mineral rights and lease owners, State and
Federal regulators, and land owners. A growing concern is the potential
use of land for farming, housing, or other uses where produced water
from oil and gas production has left a legacy of undesirable
environmental effects. Even produced waters of low salinity can lead to
problems because application of such waters to the land for irrigation
or ground water recharge can result in rapid leaching of the naturally
occurring salts present in the soil and the unsaturated zone, leading to
potential contamination of aquifers and streams.

The USGS has an 80-year history of conducting scientific studies to
evaluate and describe the long-term and short-term effects of the
disposal of produced water on soils, ground water, streams, and
ecosystems. The USGS has also conducted numerous studies to describe the
effects of produced-water salts on water and biota, techniques for
detecting these effects, and techniques for remediation of soils and
ground water.

In 2002, the USGS released a national produced-water geochemistry
database that describes the water quality of waters produced from
conventional oil and gas fields. This database is an invaluable tool for
coalbed methane development companies; land managers; Federal, State,
and local water-quality officials; and the public. The information
facilitates evaluation of issues pertaining to energy resource
development and environmental quality, such as the need for anti-scaling
additives, the design of water handling and treatment systems, and
disposal and beneficial use options.

The USGS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are studying the impacts
on water quality and the landscape caused by waters associated with
coalbed methane production in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. This
research is being conducted as part of the DOI Landscapes Initiative in
collaboration with the Department of Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Bureau of Land Management, and others. One component of that
project is an examination of hydrology and geochemistry in the vicinity
of a produced-water infiltration pond. Early findings are that slightly
to moderately saline water infiltrating from the pond dissolved
significant quantities of salts present in the soil and unsaturated
zone, resulting in a significant increase in total dissolved solids.
Although coalbed methane production in the Powder River Basin can
provide ecological benefits by increasing stream flows and creating and
enhancing wetlands, there are some concerns associated with the levels
of contaminants in the Basin. Indeed, preliminary findings were dramatic
enough to cause a State regulatory agency to order that disposal of
produced water at the infiltration pond be stopped and the site be
reclaimed.

The USGS, in cooperation with the Osage Nation, Department of Energy,
and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is investigating the effects
of hydrocarbons and produced water (brines) on soil and ground and
surface water at two sites adjacent to Skiatook Lake in the southeastern
part of the Osage Reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. Results from
this investigation will provide information needed by environmental
officials, land managers, petroleum companies, and land owners to assess
human and ecosystem impacts and to develop risk-based corrective actions
to clean up contamination from produced water from oil and gas wells
that are no longer active.

Reclamation has extensive expertise and capabilities in water storage
and delivery infrastructure planning and design. Reclamation works with
the states, BLM, EPA and others in managing produced waters so that the
quality of Western water supplies are not degraded by impaired produced
waters.

Pilot and demonstration projects like those described in this bill could
help provide proof of concept from treatment to beneficial use in key
basins where opportunities may exist for converting produced waters to
beneficial uses. However, the feasibility and potential value of any
demonstration project should be evaluated prior to making any
commitments to conduct pilot and demonstration projects. Any such
demonstration projects should be well coordinated at the federal, state,
and local levels. Other federal agencies with whom Reclamation and USGS
would coordinate such demonstration projects include BLM, EPA, and
DOE\'s National Energy Technology Lab (NETL).

**Concerns**

The Department concurs with the goals of the bill to identify
impediments to the beneficial use of produced waters. Understanding the
opportunities and overcoming the challenges involved in converting
produced waters to beneficial uses will help irrigators, farmers, energy
producers, and State and Federal agency efforts to increase the
development of western energy sources while protecting the quality of
our streams and aquifers.

Our concerns with the bill include funding for these activities. The
study, report, and pilot activities required by this bill are not
currently in the FY2007 operating plans for the USGS or BOR and the FY
2008 President's Budget also does not fund these activities. The
activities authorized in this bill should compete with other priority
projects for funds.

Additionally, language in Section 3 that directs the Secretary, acting
through USGS and BOR, to conduct a study to identify the legal,
legislative, and administrative obstacles to increasing the extent to
which produced water can be used for irrigation and other purposes. It
is not within the purview or expertise of the USGS or BOR to identify
legal, legislative, or administrative obstacles.

Another concern is that if the bill becomes law, the accomplishment of
the study and report, as proposed in Section 3 of H.R. 902, should be
subject to the availability of funds appropriated for that purpose, just
as the projects proposed by section 4 are. We anticipate that such a
study would focus on existing and potential new technologies for
treating produced waters to make them suitable for beneficial uses and
would also focus on existing and potential new hydrologic and
geochemical models needed to predict the impacts of various management
strategies on streams, aquifers, soils and biota.

We wish to note that S. 1116, a companion bill to H.R. 902 which was
introduced on April 17, 2007, is very similar to H.R. 902 and that the
Administration would have the same concerns about S. 1116 that we have
discussed with respect to H.R. 902. We have one other comment on S.
1116. Section 3(a) of the Senate bill includes the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) in the list of agencies within the Department of the
Interior that are to carry out the study authorized in this bill. While
Reclamation and USGS are working with the BLM to manage produced waters,
a study of this nature would appropriately be carried out by Reclamation
and USGS. BLM and other Interior agencies, including the Fish and
Wildlife Service, would provide assistance as appropriate but should not
be listed as leads on the study.

Improved technology and collaboration are among the four key tools
proposed as part of Water 2025, an initiative of the Department to meet
the water-supply challenges of the future.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to present this testimony.
I will be pleased to respond to questions you and other Members of the
Subcommittee may have.