I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2339 

To encourage research, development, and demonstration of technologies to 

facilitate the utilization of water produced in connection with the development of domestic energy resources, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 16, 2007 

Mr. HALL of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To encourage research, development, and demonstration of 

technologies to facilitate the utilization of water produced 

in connection with the development of domestic energy 

resources, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Produced Water Utili5 zation Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) The population of the United States is in2 creasing, and as the population increases, additional 

3 potable water supplies are required to sustain indi4 viduals, agricultural production, and industrial 

5 users, particularly in the Mountain West and desert 

6 Southwest, where water resources are scarce. 

7 (2) During the development of domestic energy 

8 sources, including coalbed methane, oil, and natural 

9 gas, water may be extracted from underground 

10 sources and brought to the surface, often increasing 

11 energy production from subsurface geological forma12 tions in the process. 

13 (3) Produced water frequently contains in14 creased levels of potentially harmful dissolved solids, 

15 rendering much of the water nonpotable and unsuit16 able for agricultural or industrial uses, and encour17 aging reinjection of the water to subsurface geologi18 cal formations to safely dispose of it, which may lead 

19 to reduced production of domestic energy resources 

20 and increased costs to producers. 

21 (4) Increasing environmentally responsible sur22 face utilization of produced water would— 

23 (A) increase water supplies available for 

24 agricultural and industrial use; 


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1 (B) reduce the amount of produced water 

2 returned to underground formations; and 

3 (C) increase domestic energy production by 

4 reducing costs associated with reinjection of 

5 produced water to the subsurface. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) EXISTING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘existing 

9 program’’ means a program at the Department of 

10 Energy which is engaged in research, development, 

11 demonstration, and commercial application of tech12 nologies for unconventional domestic natural gas 

13 production and other domestic petroleum production 

14 as of the date of enactment of this Act. 

15 (2) PRODUCED WATER.—The term ‘‘produced 

16 water’’ means water from an underground source 

17 that is brought to the surface as part of the process 

18 of exploration for or development of coalbed meth19 ane, oil, natural gas, or any other substance to be 

20 used as an energy source. 

21 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Energy. 

23 SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out 

25 under this Act, in conjunction with an existing program, 


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1 a program of research, development, and demonstration 

2 of technologies for environmentally sustainable utilization 

3 of produced water for use for agriculture, irrigation, mu4 nicipal, or industrial uses, or other environmentally sus5 tainable purposes. The program shall be designed to maxi6 mize the utilization of produced water in the United States 

7 by increasing the quality of produced water and reducing 

8 the environmental impacts of produced water. 

9 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program under this 

10 Act shall address the following areas, including improving 

11 safety and minimizing environmental impacts of activities 

12 within each area: 

13 (1) Produced water recovery, including research 

14 for desalination and demineralization to reduce total 

15 dissolved solids in the produced water. 

16 (2) Produced water utilization for agricultural, 

17 irrigation, municipal, or industrial uses, or other en18 vironmentally sustainable purposes. 

19 (3) Reinjection of produced water into sub20 surface geological formations to increase energy pro21 duction. 

22 (c) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—The program 

23 under this Act shall be administered by a consortium, ad24 ministering an existing program, whose members have col25 lectively demonstrated capabilities and experience in planVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:37 May 18, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2339.IH H2339

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1 ning and managing research, development, demonstration, 

2 and commercial application programs for unconventional 

3 natural gas and other petroleum production and produced 

4 water utilization. 

5 (d) ACTIVITIES AT THE NATIONAL ENERGY TECH6 NOLOGY LABORATORY.—The Secretary, through the Na7 tional Energy Technology Laboratory, shall carry out a 

8 program of research, development, and demonstration ac9 tivities complementary to and supportive of the research, 

10 development, and demonstration programs under sub11 section (b). 

12 (e) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this Act, the 

13 Secretary shall consult regularly with the Secretary of the 

14 Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Pro15 tection Agency. 

16 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 

17 The authority provided by this Act shall terminate 

18 on September 30, 2016. 

19 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

20 (a) ALLOCATION.—Amounts appropriated for this 

21 Act for each fiscal year shall be allocated as follows: 

22 (1) 75 percent shall be for activities under sec23 tion 4(a), (b), and (c). 

24 (2) 25 percent shall be for activities under sec25 tion 4(d) and other activities under section 4, includVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:37 May 18, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2339.IH H2339

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1 ing administrative functions such as program direc2 tion, overall program oversight, and contract man3 agement. 

4 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

6 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2016. 

Æ 


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