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Calendar No. 255 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2728 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Received; read the first time 

DECEMBER 9, 2013 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To recognize States’ authority to regulate oil and gas operations and promote American energy security, development, and job creation. 

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

3 TITLE I—STATE AUTHORITY FOR 

4 HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 

5 REGULATION 

6 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting States’ 

8 Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 102. STATE AUTHORITY FOR HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 

2 REGULATION. 

3 The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is 

4 amended by redesignating section 44 as section 45, and 

5 by inserting after section 43 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 44. STATE AUTHORITY FOR HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 

7 REGULATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of the Interior 

9 shall not enforce any Federal regulation, guidance, or per10 mit requirement regarding hydraulic fracturing, or any 

11 component of that process, relating to oil, gas, or geo12 thermal production activities on or under any land in any 

13 State that has regulations, guidance, or permit require14 ments for that activity. 

15 ‘‘(b) STATE AUTHORITY.—The Department of the 

16 Interior shall recognize and defer to State regulations, 

17 permitting, and guidance, for all activities related to hy18 draulic fracturing, or any component of that process, re19 lating to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities on 

20 Federal land. 

21 ‘‘(c) TRANSPARENCY OF STATE REGULATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall submit to 

23 the Bureau of Land Management a copy of its regu24 lations that apply to hydraulic fracturing operations 

25 on Federal land. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of the In2 terior shall make available to the public State regu3 lations submitted under this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(d) TRANSPARENCY OF STATE DISCLOSURE RE5 QUIREMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall submit to 

7 the Bureau of Land Management a copy of any reg8 ulations of the State that require disclosure of 

9 chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations on 

10 Federal land. 

11 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of the In12 terior shall make available to the public State regu13 lations submitted under this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(e) HYDRAULIC FRACTURING DEFINED.—In this 

15 section the term ‘hydraulic fracturing’ means the process 

16 by which fracturing fluids (or a fracturing fluid system) 

17 are pumped into an underground geologic formation at a 

18 calculated, predetermined rate and pressure to generate 

19 fractures or cracks in the target formation and thereby 

20 increase the permeability of the rock near the wellbore and 

21 improve production of natural gas or oil.’’. 

22 SEC. 103. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY. 

23 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

24 States shall conduct a study examining the economic bene25 fits of domestic shale oil and gas production resulting from 


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1 the process of hydraulic fracturing. This study will include 

2 identification of— 

3 (1) State and Federal revenue generated as a 

4 result of shale gas production; 

5 (2) jobs created both directly and indirectly as 

6 a result of shale oil and gas production; and 

7 (3) an estimate of potential energy prices with8 out domestic shale oil and gas production. 

9 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall submit 

10 a report on the findings of such study to the Committee 

11 on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 

12 within 30 days after completion of the study. 

13 SEC. 104. TRIBAL AUTHORITY ON TRUST LAND. 

14 The Department of the Interior shall not enforce any 

15 Federal regulation, guidance, or permit requirement re16 garding the process of hydraulic fracturing (as that term 

17 is defined in section 44 of the Mineral Leasing Act, as 

18 amended by section 102 of this Act), or any component 

19 of that process, relating to oil, gas, or geothermal produc20 tion activities on any land held in trust or restricted status 

21 for the benefit of Indians except with the express consent 

22 of the beneficiary on whose behalf such land is held in 

23 trust or restricted status. 


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1 TITLE II—EPA HYDRAULIC 

2 FRACTURING RESEARCH 

3 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘EPA Hydraulic Frac5 turing Study Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 202. EPA HYDRAULIC FRACTURING RESEARCH. 

7 In conducting its study of the potential impacts of 

8 hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, with re9 spect to which a request for information was issued under 

10 Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 218, the Administrator of 

11 the Environmental Protection Agency shall adhere to the 

12 following requirements: 

13 (1) PEER REVIEW AND INFORMATION QUAL14 ITY.—Prior to issuance and dissemination of any 

15 final report or any interim report summarizing the 

16 Environmental Protection Agency’s research on the 

17 relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drink18 ing water, the Administrator shall— 

19 (A) consider such reports to be Highly In20 fluential Scientific Assessments and require 

21 peer review of such reports in accordance with 

22 guidelines governing such assessments, as de23 scribed in— 


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1 (i) the Environmental Protection 

2 Agency’s Peer Review Handbook 3rd Edi3 tion; 

4 (ii) the Environmental Protection 

5 Agency’s Scientific Integrity Policy, as in 

6 effect on the date of enactment of this Act; 

7 and 

8 (iii) the Office of Management and 

9 Budget’s Peer Review Bulletin, as in effect 

10 on the date of enactment of this Act; and 

11 (B) require such reports to meet the stand12 ards and procedures for the dissemination of in13 fluential scientific, financial, or statistical infor14 mation set forth in the Environmental Protec15 tion Agency’s Guidelines for Ensuring and 

16 Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, 

17 and Integrity of Information Disseminated by 

18 the Environmental Protection Agency, devel19 oped in response to guidelines issued by the Of20 fice of Management and Budget under section 

21 515(a) of the Treasury and General Govern22 ment Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 

23 (Public Law 106–554). 

24 (2) PROBABILITY, UNCERTAINTY, AND CON25 SEQUENCE.—In order to maximize the quality and 


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1 utility of information developed through the study, 

2 the Administrator shall ensure that identification of 

3 the possible impacts of hydraulic fracturing on 

4 drinking water resources included in such reports be 

5 accompanied by objective estimates of the prob6 ability, uncertainty, and consequence of each identi7 fied impact, taking into account the risk manage8 ment practices of States and industry. Estimates or 

9 descriptions of probability, uncertainty, and con10 sequence shall be as quantitative as possible given 

11 the validity, accuracy, precision, and other quality 

12 attributes of the underlying data and analyses, but 

13 no more quantitative than the data and analyses can 

14 support. 

15 (3) RELEASE OF FINAL REPORT.—The final re16 port shall be publicly released by September 30, 

17 2016. 


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1 TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS 

2 PROVISIONS 

3 SEC. 301. REVIEW OF STATE ACTIVITIES. 

4 The Secretary of the Interior shall annually review 

5 and report to Congress on all State activities relating to 

6 hydraulic fracturing. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 20, 

2013. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 255 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2728 

AN ACT 

To recognize States’ authority to regulate oil and 

curity, development, and job creation. gas operations and promote American energy seDECEMBER 9, 2013 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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