I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1969 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require testing of underground 

sources of drinking water in connection with hydraulic fracturing operations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2017 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. BEYER, Ms. CLARK of 

Massachusetts, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. EVANS, Ms. LOFGREN, 

Ms. ESHOO, Mr. POLIS, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. MCCOLLUM, 

Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, and Ms. MENG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require testing 

of underground sources of drinking water in connection 

with hydraulic fracturing operations, 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 ‘‘Safe Hydration is an 

5 American Right in Energy Development Act of 2017’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1969 IH

1 SEC. 2. TESTING OF UNDERGROUND DRINKING WATER 

2 SOURCES IN CONNECTION WITH HYDRAULIC 

3 FRACTURING OPERATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1421(b)(1) of the Safe 

5 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(b)(1)) is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

7 the end; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 

9 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(E) shall prohibit the underground injection of 

12 fluids or propping agents pursuant to hydraulic frac13 turing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal 

14 production activities unless the person proposing to 

15 conduct the hydraulic fracturing operations agrees 

16 to conduct testing and report data in accordance 

17 with section 1421A.’’. 

18 (b) TESTING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

19 Part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act is amended by 

20 inserting after section 1421 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 300h) 

21 the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 1421A. TESTING OF UNDERGROUND DRINKING 

23 WATER SOURCES IN CONNECTION WITH HY24 DRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS. 

25 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENTS.—Regulations under section 

26 1421(a) for State underground injection control programs 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1969 IH

1 shall, in connection with the underground injection of 

2 fluids or propping agents pursuant to hydraulic fracturing 

3 operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production ac4 tivities, require any person conducting such operations— 

5 ‘‘(1) to conduct testing of underground sources 

6 of drinking water in accordance with subsections (c) 

7 and (d)— 

8 ‘‘(A) with respect to a site where, as of the 

9 date of enactment of this section, underground 

10 injection has not commenced for the first 

11 time— 

12 ‘‘(i) prior to commencement of under13 ground injection at the site for the first 

14 time; 

15 ‘‘(ii) at least once every 6 months dur16 ing the period beginning at the commence17 ment of underground injection described in 

18 clause (i) and ending at the cessation of 

19 such hydraulic fracturing operations; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) at least once every 12 months 

21 during the 5-year period following the end 

22 of the period described in clause (ii); 

23 ‘‘(B) with respect to a site where, as of the 

24 date of enactment of this section, there is no 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1969 IH

1 active underground injection, but underground 

2 injection has previously occurred at the site— 

3 ‘‘(i) prior to renewing underground in4 jection at the site; 

5 ‘‘(ii) at least once every 6 months dur6 ing the period beginning at such renewal of 

7 underground injection and ending at the 

8 cessation of such hydraulic fracturing oper9 ations; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) at least once every 12 months 

11 during the 5-year period following the end 

12 of the period described in clause (ii); and 

13 ‘‘(C) with respect to a site where, as of the 

14 date of enactment of this section, such hydrau15 lic fracturing operations are occurring— 

16 ‘‘(i) at least once every 6 months dur17 ing the period beginning on the date of en18 actment of this section ending at the ces19 sation of such hydraulic fracturing oper20 ations; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) at least once every 12 months 

22 during the 5-year period following the end 

23 of the period described in clause (i); and 

24 ‘‘(2) to submit reports to the Administrator on 

25 the results of testing under subparagraph (A), (B), 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1969 IH

1 or (C) of paragraph (1) within 2 weeks of such test2 ing. 

3 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—The testing and reporting re4 quirements of subsection (a) do not apply with respect to 

5 hydraulic fracturing operations if there is no accessible un6 derground source of drinking water within a radius of one 

7 mile of the site where the operations occur. 

8 ‘‘(c) SAMPLING LOCATIONS.—Testing required pur9 suant to subsection (a) shall occur— 

10 ‘‘(1) at all accessible underground sources of 

11 drinking water within a radius of one-half mile of 

12 the site where the hydraulic fracturing operations 

13 occur; and 

14 ‘‘(2) if there is no accessible underground 

15 source of drinking water within such radius, at the 

16 nearest accessible underground source of drinking 

17 water within a radius of one mile of such site. 

18 ‘‘(d) TESTING.—Testing required pursuant to sub19 section (a) shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) be conducted by one or more laboratories 

21 certified pursuant to the Environmental Protection 

22 Agency’s program for certifying laboratories for 

23 analysis of drinking water contaminants; and 

24 ‘‘(2) include testing for any hazardous sub25 stance, pollutant, contaminant, or other factor that 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1969 IH

1 the Administrator determines would indicate damage 

2 associated with hydraulic fracturing operations. 

3 ‘‘(e) DATABASE; PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY.— 

4 ‘‘(1) DATABASE.—The Administrator shall es5 tablish and maintain a database of the results re6 ported pursuant to subsection (a)(2). 

7 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY.—The Adminis8 trator shall make such database publicly accessible 

9 on the Website of the Environmental Protection 

10 Agency. 

11 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC SEARCHABILITY.—The Adminis12 trator shall make such database searchable by zip 

13 code, allowing members of the public to easily iden14 tify all sites for which reports are submitted pursu15 ant to subsection (a)(2). 

16 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘acces17 sible underground source of drinking water’ means an un18 derground source of drinking water to which the person 

19 conducting the hydraulic fracturing operations can reason20 ably gain access.’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

22 1421(d)(1)(B)(ii) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 300h(d)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended by inserting ‘‘except 

24 as provided in subsection (b)(1)(E) of this section and sec25 tion 1421A,’’ before ‘‘the underground injection of fluids 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1969 IH

1 or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to 

2 hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geo3 thermal production activities’’. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS