IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2339 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2008 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Produced Water Utili3 zation Act of 2008’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) PRODUCED WATER.—The term ‘‘produced 

7 water’’ means water from an underground source 

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

9 of exploration for or development of coalbed meth10 ane, oil, natural gas, or any other substance to be 

11 used as an energy source. 

12 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Energy. 

14 SEC. 3 PURPOSES. 

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

16 under this Act a program of research, development, and 

17 demonstration of technologies for environmentally sustain18 able utilization of produced water for agricultural, 

19 irrigational, municipal, and industrial uses, or other envi20 ronmentally sustainable purposes. The program shall be 

21 designed to maximize the utilization of produced water in 

22 the United States by increasing the quality of produced 

23 water and reducing the environmental impacts of produced 

24 water. 

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

26 Act shall address the following areas, including improving 


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1 safety and minimizing environmental impacts of activities 

2 within each area: 

3 (1) Produced water recovery, including research 

4 for desalination and demineralization to reduce total 

5 dissolved solids in the produced water. 

6 (2) Produced water utilization for agricultural, 

7 irrigational, municipal, and industrial uses, or other 

8 environmentally sustainable purposes. 

9 (3) Re-injection of produced water into sub10 surface geological formations to increase energy pro11 duction. 

12 (c) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out the 

13 purposes under this Act, the Secretary may enter into an 

14 agreement with a consortium whose members have collec15 tively demonstrated capabilities and experience in plan16 ning and managing research, development, demonstration, 

17 and commercial application programs for unconventional 

18 natural gas and other petroleum production and produced 

19 water utilization. 

20 (d) ACTIVITIES AT THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES.— 

21 The Secretary, through the appropriate National Labora22 tory, shall carry out a program of research, development, 

23 and demonstration activities complementary to and sup24 portive of the research, development, and demonstration 

25 programs under subsection (b). 


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1 SEC. 4. CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION. 

2 (a) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this Act, the 

3 Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior 

4 and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

5 Agency. 

6 (b) COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent prac7 ticable, the Secretary shall ensure that the activities under 

8 this Act are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the 

9 efforts of, programs at the Department of Energy and 

10 other government agencies. 

11 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

12 (a) ALLOCATION.—Amounts appropriated for this 

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

14 (1) 75 percent shall be for activities under sec15 tion 3(a), (b), and (c). 

16 (2) 25 percent shall be for activities under sec17 tion 3(d) and other activities under section 3, includ18 ing administrative functions such as program direc19 tion, overall program oversight, and contract man20 agement. 


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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

3 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2013. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 30, 2008. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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