II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3598 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 2, 2009 

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

Resources 

AN ACT 

To ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department 

of Energy’s energy research, development, and demonstration programs to help guarantee efficient, reliable, 

and sustainable delivery of energy and water resources. 

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 ‘‘Energy and Water Re3 search Integration Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ENERGY AND WATER RESEARCH AND ASSESSMENT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy shall as6 sess each of the energy research, development, and dem7 onstration programs and projects of the Department of 

8 Energy and identify those programs and projects into 

9 which it is appropriate to integrate water considerations. 

10 In carrying out this section the Secretary shall, as appro11 priate— 

12 (1) seek to advance energy and energy effi13 ciency technologies and practices that would— 

14 (A) minimize freshwater withdrawal and 

15 consumption; 

16 (B) increase water use efficiency; and 

17 (C) utilize nontraditional water sources 

18 with efforts to improve the quality of that 

19 water; 

20 (2) consider the effects climate variability and 

21 change may have on water supplies and quality for 

22 energy generation and fuel production; and 

23 (3) improve understanding of the energy re24 quired to provide water supplies and the water re25 quired to provide reliable energy supplies throughout 

26 the United States. 


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1 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec4 retary of Energy shall develop a Strategic Plan (in 

5 this section referred to as the ‘‘Strategic Plan’’) out6 lining the research, development, and demonstration 

7 needs for the programs and projects identified under 

8 subsection (a), in accordance with subsections (a) 

9 through (c) of this section, as appropriate. 

10 (2) MILESTONES AND SPECIFIC CONSIDER11 ATIONS.—In carrying out the development and up12 dating of the Strategic Plan in accordance with this 

13 subsection, the Secretary shall evaluate and, as ap14 propriate, establish technical milestones for— 

15 (A) new advanced cooling technologies for 

16 energy generation and fuel production tech17 nologies; 

18 (B) performance improvement of existing 

19 cooling technologies and cost reductions associ20 ated with using those technologies; 

21 (C) innovative water reuse, recovery, and 

22 treatment in energy generation and fuel produc23 tion; 


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1 (D) technology development for carbon 

2 capture and storage systems that utilize effi3 cient water use design strategies; 

4 (E) technologies that are life-cycle cost ef5 fective; 

6 (F) systems analysis and modeling of 

7 issues relating to the energy required to provide 

8 water supplies and the water required to pro9 vide reliable energy supplies throughout the 

10 United States; 

11 (G) technologies to treat and utilize pro12 duced waters discharged from oil, natural gas, 

13 coalbed methane, and mining activities; 

14 (H) advanced materials for the use of non15 traditional water sources for energy generation 

16 and fuel production; 

17 (I) biomass production and utilization and 

18 the impact on hydrologic systems; 

19 (J) technologies that reduce impacts on 

20 water from energy resource development; 

21 (K) increases in energy efficiency of water 

22 distribution and collection systems; 

23 (L) technologies for energy generation 

24 from water distribution and collection systems; 

25 and 


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1 (M) any other area of the energy-water 

2 nexus that the Secretary considers appropriate. 

3 (3) INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION AND NON4 DUPLICATION.—In carrying out the development and 

5 updating of the Strategic Plan in accordance with 

6 this subsection, the Secretary shall, where appro7 priate, work collaboratively with other Federal agen8 cies operating related programs and avoid duplica9 tion. 

10 (4) INTRA-AGENCY COORDINATION AND NON11 DUPLICATION.—In carrying out the development and 

12 updating of the Strategic Plan in accordance with 

13 this subsection, the Secretary shall coordinate and 

14 avoid duplication of activities across programs and 

15 projects of the Department of Energy, including 

16 with those of the National laboratories. 

17 (5) RELEVANT INFORMATION AND REC18 OMMENDATIONS.—In carrying out the development 

19 and updating of the Strategic Plan in accordance 

20 with this subsection, the Secretary shall consider 

21 and incorporate, as appropriate, relevant information 

22 and recommendations, including those of the Na23 tional Water Availability and Use Assessment Pro24 gram under section 9508(d) of the Omnibus Public 


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1 Land Management Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 

2 10368(d)). 

3 (6) NONGOVERNMENTAL PARTICIPATION.—In 

4 carrying out the development and updating of the 

5 Strategic Plan in accordance with this subsection, 

6 the Secretary shall consult and coordinate with a di7 verse group of representatives from research and 

8 academic institutions and industry who have exper9 tise in technologies and practices relating to the en10 ergy required to provide water supplies and the 

11 water required to provide reliable energy supplies 

12 throughout the United States. 

13 (7) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

14 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

15 the Secretary shall submit to Congress the Strategic 

16 Plan. 

17 (8) UPDATING THE STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not 

18 later than 3 years after the date of enactment of 

19 this Act, the Secretary shall utilize relevant informa20 tion produced by Federal Government agencies, aca21 demia, and industry to update the Strategic Plan, 

22 and submit a report to Congress describing the 

23 changes from the initial Strategic Plan. 

24 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy 

2 shall implement the Strategic Plan, as appropriate, 

3 in carrying out energy research, development, and 

4 demonstration programs of the Department of En5 ergy. 

6 (2) APPLICATION TO PROJECTS.—Not later 

7 than 3 months after the submission of the report to 

8 Congress in subsection (b)(7)), the Secretary shall 

9 as appropriate apply the Strategic Plan to 

10 projects— 

11 (A) identified as the most energy and 

12 water intensive; and 

13 (B) with the most potential to achieve the 

14 purposes of this section. 

15 (3) DELAY OR DISRUPTION.—In carrying out 

16 this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that no 

17 program or project of the Department is unneces18 sarily delayed or disrupted. 

19 (d) REPORTS.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, and at least once every 2 years 

21 thereafter, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a re22 port on its findings and activities under this section. 

23 (e) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may 

24 provide for such additional research, development, and 

25 demonstration activities as may be appropriate to inteVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:24 Dec 03, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3598.RFS H3598

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1 grate water considerations into the research, development, 

2 and demonstration activities of the Department as de3 scribed in subsection (a). 

4 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of En6 ergy for carrying out this section $60,000,000 for each 

7 of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015. 

8 SEC. 3. ENERGY-WATER ARCHITECTURE COUNCIL. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, in co10 ordination with other relevant Federal agencies, shall es11 tablish an Energy-Water Architecture Council to promote 

12 and enable improved energy and water resource data col13 lection, reporting, and technological innovation. The Coun14 cil shall consist of— 

15 (1) representation from each Federal agency 

16 that conducts research related to energy and water 

17 resource data; and 

18 (2) non-Federal members, including representa19 tives of research and academic institutions and in20 dustry, who have expertise in technologies and prac21 tices relating to the energy required to provide water 

22 supplies and the water required to provide reliable 

23 energy supplies throughout the United States. 

24 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Council shall— 


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1 (1) make recommendations on the development 

2 of data collection and data communication standards 

3 and protocols to agencies and entities currently en4 gaged in collecting the data for the energy required 

5 to provide water supplies and the water required to 

6 provide reliable energy supplies throughout the 

7 United States; 

8 (2) recommend ways to make improvements to 

9 Federal water use data to increase understanding of 

10 trends in energy generation and fuel production; 

11 (3) recommend best practices for utilizing infor12 mation from existing monitoring networks to provide 

13 nationally uniform water and energy use and infra14 structure data; and 

15 (4) conduct annual technical workshops, includ16 ing at least one regional workshop annually, to fa17 cilitate information exchange among Federal, State, 

18 and private sector experts on technologies that en19 courage the conservation and efficient use of water 

20 and energy. 

21 (c) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

22 of enactment of this Act, and at least once every 2 years 

23 thereafter, the Council, through the Secretary of Energy, 

24 shall transmit to the Congress a report on its findings and 

25 activities under this section. 


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1 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of En3 ergy for carrying out this section $5,000,000 for each of 

4 the fiscal years 2011 through 2015. 

5 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL REGULATIONS. 

6 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow the 

7 establishment of regulations by the Federal Government 

8 that would infringe or impair the use of water by State, 

9 tribal, or local governments. 

10 SEC. 5. MANDATES. 

11 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require 

12 State, tribal, or local governments to take any action that 

13 may result in an increased financial burden to such gov14 ernments by restricting the use of water by such govern15 ments. 

16 SEC. 6. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION. 

17 To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary of 

18 Energy shall coordinate activities under this Act with 

19 other programs of the Department of Energy and other 

20 Federal research programs. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 1, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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