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[Senate Report 113-296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 636
113th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     113-296

======================================================================

 
            NEXUS OF ENERGY AND WATER FOR SUSTAINABILITY ACT

                                _______
                                

               December 10, 2014.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Ms. Landrieu, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 182]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1971) to establish an interagency 
coordination committee or subcommittee with the leadership of 
the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior, 
focused on the nexus between energy and water production, use, 
and efficiency, and for other purposes, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and 
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
  Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``Nexus of Energy and Water for 
Sustainability Act of 2014'' or the ``NEWS Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

  In this Act:
          (1) Committee or subcommittee.--The term ``Committee or 
        Subcommittee'' means the Committee on the Nexus of Energy and 
        Water for Sustainability (or the ``NEWS Committee'') or the 
        Subcommittee on the Nexus of Energy and Water for 
        Sustainability (or the ``NEWS Subcommittee''), whichever is 
        established by section 3(a).
          (2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
          (3) Energy-water nexus.--The term ``energy-water nexus'' 
        means the links between--
                  (A) the water needed to produce fuels, electricity, 
                and other forms of energy; and
                  (B) the energy needed to transport, reclaim, and 
                treat water and wastewater.
          (4) Grand challenges.--The term ``Grand Challenges'' means 
        the 21st Century Grand Challenges program coordinated by the 
        Office of Science and Technology Policy.
          (5) NSTC.--The term ``NSTC'' means the National Science and 
        Technology Council.
          (6) RD&D activities.--The term ``RD&D activities'' means 
        research, development, and demonstration activities.

SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION COMMITTEE.

  (a) Establishment.--The Director shall establish either a committee 
or a subcommittee under the NSTC, to be known as either the Committee 
on the Nexus of Energy and Water for Sustainability (or the ``NEWS 
Committee'') or the Subcommittee on the Nexus of Energy and Water for 
Sustainability (or the ``NEWS Subcommittee''), to carry out the duties 
described in subsection (c).
  (b) Administration.--
          (1) Chairs.--The Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the 
        Interior shall serve as co-chairs of the Committee or 
        Subcommittee.
          (2) Membership; staffing.--Membership and staffing shall be 
        determined by the NSTC.
  (c) Duties.--The Committee or Subcommittee shall--
          (1) serve as a forum for developing common Federal goals and 
        plans on energy-water nexus RD&D activities;
          (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
        Act, and biannually thereafter, issue a strategic plan on 
        energy-water nexus RD&D activities priorities and objectives;
          (3) promote coordination of the activities of Federal 
        departments and agencies on energy-water nexus RD&D activities, 
        including the activities of--
                  (A) the Department of Energy;
                  (B) the Department of the Interior;
                  (C) the Corps of Engineers;
                  (D) the Department of Agriculture;
                  (E) the Department of Defense;
                  (F) the Department of State;
                  (G) the Environmental Protection Agency;
                  (H) the Council on Environmental Quality;
                  (I) the National Institute of Standards and 
                Technology;
                  (J) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration;
                  (K) the National Science Foundation;
                  (L) the Office of Management and Budget;
                  (M) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and
                  (N) such other Federal departments and agencies as 
                the Director or the Committee or Subcommittee consider 
                appropriate; and
          (4)(A) coordinate and develop capabilities and methodologies 
        for data collection, management, and dissemination of 
        information related to energy-water nexus RD&D activities from 
        and to other Federal departments and agencies ; and
          (B) promote information exchange between Federal departments 
        and agencies--
                  (i) to identify and document Federal and non-Federal 
                programs and funding opportunities that support basic 
                and applied research, development, and demonstration 
                proposals to advance energy-water nexus related science 
                and technologies;
                  (ii) if practicable, to leverage existing programs by 
                encouraging joint solicitations, block grants, and 
                matching programs with non-Federal entities; and
                  (iii) to identify opportunities for domestic and 
                international public-private partnerships, innovative 
                financing mechanisms, information and data exchange, 
                and Grand Challenges.
  (d) Review; Report.--At the end of the 10-year period beginning on 
the date on which the Committee or Subcommittee is established, the 
Director--
          (1) shall review the activities, relevance, and effectiveness 
        of the Committee or Subcommittee; and
          (2) submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
        of the Senate and the Committees on Science, Space, and 
        Technology, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources of the 
        House of Representatives, a report describing the results of 
        the review conducted under paragraph (1) and a recommendation 
        on whether the Committee or Subcommittee should continue.

SEC. 4. CROSSCUT BUDGET.

  Not later than 30 days after the President submits the budget of the 
United States Government under section 1105 of title 31, United States 
Code, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit 
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 
Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, Energy and Commerce, and 
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, an interagency 
budget crosscut report that displays at the program-, project-, and 
activity-level for each of the Federal agencies that carry out or 
support (including through grants, contracts, interagency and 
intraagency transfers, multiyear and no-year funds) basic and applied 
RD&D activities to advance the energy-water nexus related science and 
technologies--
          (1) the budget proposed in the budget request of the 
        President for the upcoming fiscal year;
          (2) expenditures and obligations for the prior fiscal year; 
        and
          (3) estimated expenditures and obligations for the current 
        fiscal year.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of S. 1971 is to establish an interagency 
coordination committee or subcommittee under the National 
Science and Technology Council, co-chaired by the Secretary of 
Energy and the Secretary of the Interior, to focus on the nexus 
between energy and water production, use, and efficiency.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Vast amounts of water are used every day to produce vital 
fuels and to cool power plants in the United States. Without 
this water supply, most of our electricity would cease flowing 
and our economy and other essential functions would come to a 
complete stop. At the same time, a great deal of electricity is 
needed to treat, transport and convey water across the 
country--not only to support economic growth and well-being, 
but also to sustain basic life. These inseparable links of 
``water for energy'' and ``energy for water'' comprise the 
energy-water nexus.
    Congress has long recognized the inextricable linkage and 
mutual dependence of energy and water. Section 979 of the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Secretary of Energy to 
carry out a research and development program on energy-related 
issues associated with the provision of adequate water supplies 
and on water-related issues associated with the provision of 
adequate supplies and efficient use of energy, and to assess 
the effectiveness of existing programs of the Department of 
Energy and other federal agencies to address energy-water nexus 
issues. Similarly, the Secure Water Act, subtitle F or title IX 
of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, recognized 
the need for systematic data-gathering on the nation's water 
resources to ensure sufficient quantities of water to support 
energy production, authorized water conservation grant programs 
within the Bureau of Reclamation, directed the Secretary of 
Energy to assess water supplies needed to generate 
hydroelectric power at federal power marketing administration 
projects, and enhanced collection of data on water by the 
United States Geological Survey. The Government Accountability 
Office has also issued several reports on the energy-water 
nexus and called for better coordination of federal programs 
addressing the energy-water nexus. GAO, Energy-Water Nexus: 
Coordinated Federal Approach Needed to Better Manage Energy and 
Water Tradeoffs, GAO-12-880 (Sept. 2012).
    S. 1971 is needed to provide better coordination, 
management, and streamlining of science and technology 
research, development, and demonstration activities related to 
the energy-water nexus across the Federal Government by 
establishing a coordinating mechanism within the Cabinet-level 
National Science and Technology Council, which is the principal 
office within the executive branch for coordinating science and 
technology policy across the Federal Government.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 1971 was introduced by Senator Murkowski on January 29, 
2014. Senators Landrieu, Wyden, Schatz, Baldwin, and Udall of 
New Mexico are cosponsors. The Subcommittee on Water and Power 
held a hearing on S. 1971 on June 25, 2014 (S. Hrg. 113-428). 
At its business meeting on November 13, 2014, the Committee 
ordered S. 1971 favorably reported with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on November 13, 2014, by a voice vote of 
a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1971, if 
amended as described herein. Senator Barrasso asked to be 
recorded as voting no.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During its consideration of S. 1971, the Committee adopted 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which clarifies the 
role of Congress in determining how long the Nexus of Energy 
and Water for Sustainability Committee or Subcommittee will 
continue to exist and makes technical corrections.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 provides that the Act may be cited as the ``Nexus 
of Energy and Water for Sustainability Act of 2014'' or the 
``NEWS Act of 2014.''
    Section 2 defines key terms.
    Section 3(a) establishes the Nexus of Energy and Water for 
Sustainability Committee or Subcommittee under the National 
Science and Technology Council. Subsection (b) designates the 
Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Interior as co-
chairs of the Committee or Subcommittee. Subsection (c) lists 
the duties of the Committee or Subcommittee, which include: 
serving as a forum for developing goals and plans on energy-
water nexus research, development, and demonstration 
activities; issuing biannual strategic plans on energy-water 
nexus research, development, and demonstration activities 
priorities and objectives; facilitating data collection, 
management, and dissemination of information related to energy-
water nexus research, development, and demonstration 
activities; promoting information exchange; and identifying 
opportunities for public-private partnerships. Subsection (d) 
requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy to review the activities, relevance, and effectiveness 
of the Committee or Subcommittee ten years after it is 
established, to report the results of the review, and to 
recommend whether the Committee or Subcommittee should 
continue.
    Section 4 requires the development and submission of a 
crosscut budget by the Office of Management and Budget to the 
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House 
Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, Energy and 
Commerce, and Natural Resources.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the costs of 
this measure has been requested but was not received at the 
time the report was filed. When the Congressional Budget Office 
completes its cost estimate, it will be posted on the Internet 
at www.cbo.gov.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 1971.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government established standards or any economic 
responsibilities on private individuals and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 1971.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The statements of the witnesses from the Department of 
Energy and the Department of the Interior at the Subcommittee 
on Water and Power hearing on S. 1971 on June 25, 2014 follow:

   Statement of Tom Iseman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and 
                  Science, Department of the Interior

    Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Lee and members of the 
Subcommittee, I am Tom Iseman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Water and Science at the Department of the Interior 
(Department). Thank you for the opportunity to testify on S. 
1971, Nexus of Energy and Water for Sustainability Act of 2014. 
The Administration has not completed its review of S. 1971 in 
conjunction with the report issued by the Department of Energy 
last week, entitled The Energy-Water Nexus: Challenges and 
Opportunities (U.S. Department of Energy 2014). The bill would 
create a Committee or Subcommittee on Energy-Water Nexus for 
Sustainability under the National Science and Technology 
Council (NSTC), co-chaired by the Secretary of Energy and 
Secretary of the Interior. The Department has a number of 
existing programs that address many of these energy-water nexus 
issues, some of which are summarized below.
    Founded in 1879, the USGS is the Nation's largest water, 
earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency. The 
USGS collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific 
understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and 
problems. The USGS provides impartial scientific information on 
the health of our ecosystems and environment, the water and 
energy resources we rely on, and the impacts of climate and 
land-use change. With a diversity of scientific expertise, the 
USGS carries out large-scale, multi-disciplinary investigations 
and provides scientific information to resource managers, 
planners, and other customers.
    Reclamation owns and operates water projects that promote 
and sustain economic development within the 17 western States. 
The mission of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect 
water and related resources in an environmentally and 
economically sound manner in the interest of the American 
public. Since it was established in 1902, Reclamation has 
constructed more than 600 dams and reservoirs including Hoover 
Dam on the Colorado River and Grand Coulee on the Columbia 
River. Reclamation is the largest wholesaler of water in the 
country, delivering water to more than 31 million people, and 
providing one out of five western farmers with irrigation water 
for 10 million acres of farmland across the United States. 
Reclamation is also the second largest producer of 
hydroelectric power in the United States, and provides 
significant amounts of renewable energy to customers throughout 
the West.

          existing programs at the department of the interior

    The Department recognizes the importance of the energy-
water nexus and supports a closer level of communication and 
coordination between the Department of the Interior, Department 
of Energy and the broader federal community. The Department of 
the Interior appreciates the Committee's leadership on the 
energy-water nexus issue. Energy and water issues intersect 
across a range of Interior activities, including hydropower 
generation, energy development, electricity generation, and 
water treatment, distribution, and conservation. Interior has a 
variety of programs that address the energy-water nexus, 
including USGS monitoring systems and research programs 
(including the National Water Census), Reclamation Basin 
Studies, and WaterSMART Grants. Understanding the value of 
interagency coordination, Interior has partnered with the 
Department of Energy and the Department of the Army (working 
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) through a 2010 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaboratively address a 
host of energy-water nexus issues related to hydropower. By 
coordinating efforts, the signatory agencies have completed a 
number of projects that promote sustainable hydropower 
development, including hydropower resource assessments, unit-
dispatch optimization systems, climate change studies, 
integrated basin-scale opportunity assessments, and funding 
opportunities to demonstrate new small hydropower technologies.
    The Department is committed to integrating energy and water 
policies to promote the sustainable use of all resources, 
including incorporating water conservation criteria and the 
water/energy nexus into the Department's planning efforts. On 
June 9, 2014, the Department announced that Reclamation will 
make $17.8 million in WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency 
Grants available to 36 new and ongoing projects in the Western 
United States for activities such as conserving and using water 
more efficiently, increasing the use of renewable energy, 
improving energy efficiency, encouraging water markets, and 
carrying out activities to address climate-related impacts on 
water. Reclamation also announced that it will make $1.8 
million available for comprehensive water basin studies 
conducted jointly with state and local partners in the Upper 
Red River Basin in Oklahoma, Upper Deschutes River Basin in 
Oregon, and Missouri River Headwaters Basin in Montana. These 
announcements support the President's Climate Action Plan by 
providing tools for states and water users to create water 
supply resilience to meet future water and energy demands in 
the face of a changing climate.
    Water and Energy Efficiency Grants and Basin Studies are 
part of the Department's WaterSMART Program. WaterSMART Grants 
provide cost-shared funding to States, tribes, and other 
entities with water or power delivery authority for water 
efficiency improvements, with additional consideration given to 
proposals that include energy savings as a part of planned 
water efficiency improvements. Water management improvements 
that incorporate renewable energy sources are also prioritized 
for WaterSMART Grant funding. These grants directly address the 
energy-water nexus and provide a concrete means of implementing 
on-the-ground solutions to energy-water issues. The FY 2014 
Water and Energy Efficiency Grant projects are expected to 
conserve more than 67,000 acre-feet of water annually and 22.9 
million kilowatt-hours of electricity--enough water for more 
than 250,000 people and enough electricity for more than 2,000 
households. Basin Studies are collaborative studies, cost-
shared with non-Federal partners, which analyze how climate 
change may affect water supply, demand and operations in the 
future and identify adaptation strategies to address imbalances 
in water supply and demand.
    In addition to long-standing USGS efforts in water supply 
and availability and in energy resource assessments and 
research, which provide an essential foundation for 
understanding issues related to the energy-water nexus, the 
USGS participates in a number of interagency efforts. The USGS 
has been working with the Energy Information Administration 
(EIA) since 2010 to improve estimates of water withdrawals\1\ 
and consumptive use associated with cooling water at 
thermoelectric generating plants across the Nation. Cooling 
water for such plants is the largest sector of water 
withdrawals in the United States, at 49% of all water 
withdrawals nationwide, according to USGS Circular 1344, 
Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2005. A recent 
USGS report, Methods for Estimating Water Consumption for 
Thermoelectric Power Plants in the United States (Scientific 
Investigations Report 2013-5188), documents the model that the 
USGS developed with the assistance of the EIA for estimating 
electric generating plant water withdrawals and consumptive 
use, which are currently not consistently reported. This 
ground-breaking model, which incorporates the heat budget of 
each of the approximately 1,300 thermoelectric generating 
plants that rely on water for cooling, can be used both to 
estimate current and historical water use and to forecast 
future water use with different plant configurations and 
cooling water technologies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Withdrawals are defined as water removed from the ground or 
diverted from a surface-water source for use.
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    In addition to the efforts above, the FY 2015 President's 
Budget requests an additional $2 million for the USGS to 
provide water use grants to States that will increase 
availability and quality of water use data including data 
related to water used for energy. These grants would provide 
financial resources, through State water resources agencies, to 
improve the availability and quality of water use data that 
they collect and would integrate those data with the USGS Water 
Census. Funding provided to States through these grants would 
be targeted at improvements to water use data collection and 
integration that will be of the greatest benefit to a national 
assessment of water availability and use. As the energy sector 
is a primary user of water, increased availability of water use 
information related to energy will be an important part of this 
effort.
    In mid-April 2014, the USGS released an expanded and 
updated version of the USGS oil, gas, and geothermal Produced 
Waters Database and Map Viewer; the revised database contains 
nearly 100,000 new samples from conventional and unconventional 
well types, including geothermal. The availability of more 
samples and more types of analyses will help farmers determine 
the quality of local produced water available for possible 
remediation and reuse, will enable local and national resource 
managers to track the composition of trace elements, and will 
help industry plan for waste-water injection and recycling.
    The Powder River Basin in northern Wyoming and southern 
Montana has experienced a rapid expansion in the development of 
coalbed natural gas. About 90 billion liters of water were 
produced annually in the Wyoming portion of the Basin between 
2002 and 2011 as part of the extraction process. The produced 
waters are moderately saline and have high proportions of 
sodium relative to calcium and magnesium, thus rendering the 
waters unsuitable for irrigation without treatment. USGS 
studies have examined the environmental impacts of different 
disposal options. Results indicated that infiltration 
impoundments had the potential to contaminate underlying fresh 
groundwater supplies, but that with specific treatment the 
produced waters could be used in subsurface drip irrigation 
operations that minimized potential for groundwater 
contamination and provided beneficial use of the waters to 
enhance agricultural production in this semiarid region.
    Other Departmental programs and activities relate directly 
to the energy-water nexus, including hydropower development, 
water treatment and desalination, pumping and water delivery, 
BLM energy permitting, and USGS research on energy resources 
and induced seismicity. We are happy to provide the Committee 
with additional information on these programs as needed.

   s. 1971, nexus of energy and water for sustainability act of 2014

    Section 3 of S. 1971 requires the Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy to establish either a Committee 
or Subcommittee on Energy-Water Nexus for Sustainability under 
the NSTC, co-chaired by the Secretary of Energy and Secretary 
of the Interior. The Committee or Subcommittee is directed to: 
(1) serve as a forum for developing common federal goals and 
plans on energy-water nexus issues; (2) promote coordination of 
the related activities of several federal departments and 
agencies identified in the bill; (3) coordinate and develop 
capabilities for data collection, categorization, and 
dissemination of data from and to other federal departments and 
agencies; and (4) engage in information exchange between 
federal departments and agencies.
    Section 4 of S. 1971 requires the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget to submit to Congress a report that 
includes an interagency budget crosscut that: (1) displays the 
budget proposed for the upcoming fiscal year, including any 
interagency or intra-agency transfer, for each of the federal 
agencies that carry out energy-water nexus projects and (2) 
identifies all federal and state expenditures since 2011 on 
energy-water nexus projects. The report to Congress would also 
provide a detailed accounting of all funds received and 
obligated by all Federal and State agencies with energy-water 
implementation responsibilities during the previous fiscal year 
and list all energy-water nexus projects to be undertaken in 
the upcoming fiscal year, with the federal portion of funds for 
those projects.
    The Department appreciates the Committee's leadership and 
the opportunity to strengthen capabilities to address the 
energy-water nexus. Given the breadth and many facets of this 
issue, we support close collaboration with the DOE and other 
Federal agencies. Moving forward, we would like to continue 
working with the Committee on preliminary concerns regarding 
the details of the collaborative structure and reporting 
provisions on issues related to the nexus of energy and water. 
The Department supports interagency collaboration and 
information sharing to support sound decision-making, leverage 
resources, and reduce duplication. But, the Administration 
believes this can be done through more effective and efficient 
collaboration and program management, rather than an unduly and 
potentially ineffective reporting requirement.
    If enacted, it is the Department's view that the committee 
or subcommittee created under S. 1971 should focus its 
attention on key vulnerabilities where there is an appropriate 
federal role and capability to have a positive impact. It is 
the Department's view that that focus should be on data gaps 
associated with water use and availability.
    Water availability, severe drought, and long-term climate 
trends have always posed a significant risk to energy 
development and electric generation. This is one of the broad, 
systemic risks at the core of the energy-water nexus. Decreased 
water availability, prolonged drought, and more pronounced 
climate trends could increase that risk and require the use of 
accelerated adaptation strategies.
    The Department supports the type of coordination and data 
exchange encouraged under S. 1971 and is already undertaking a 
number of steps to do so as discussed in the testimony above. 
Such efforts could help close existing gaps, increasing our 
understanding of water supply availability to benefit water and 
energy decision makers.
    If enacted, S. 1971 may present challenges to the 
Department. The Department would need to evaluate whether the 
commitments and reporting requirements in the bill may require 
additional resources to carry them out. Additionally, while S. 
1971 allows for the coordination of federal activities, the 
Department would like to stress the importance of providing the 
scientific community with autonomy to design and execute 
studies. Finally, States play the key role in allocating and 
administering water, and they must be a partner in energy-water 
efforts. S. 1971 does not address the important relationships 
with states and the private sector, where significant work on 
energy-water nexus projects is accomplished. Finally, as 
drafted, it is unclear to the Department what qualifies as an 
``energy-water nexus project'' under S. 1971.

                               conclusion

    In conclusion, the Department shares the Committee's goals 
to promote coordination between Federal agencies as it relates 
to the energy-water nexus. We appreciate the leadership of this 
Committee in engaging Federal agencies. The Department has 
numerous programs in place that encourage coordination not only 
within the Federal Government, but as public-private 
partnerships. The Federal Government has a role in providing 
leadership and tools to address the challenges of imbalance 
between supply and demand. Sustainable water supplies and 
energy use are important parts of a stable economic base, 
employment continuity, and smart growth.
    I would be pleased to answer any questions the Subcommittee 
may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill, S. 1971, as 
ordered reported.
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