I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 34 

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 clean 

water resources. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself and Mr. LUCAS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

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 clean water resources. 

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 ‘‘Energy and Water Re5 search Integration Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INTEGRATING ENERGY AND WATER RESEARCH. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy shall in3 tegrate water considerations into energy research, develop4 ment, and demonstration programs and projects of the 

5 Department of Energy by— 

6 (1) advancing energy and energy efficiency 

7 technologies and practices that meet the objectives 

8 of— 

9 (A) minimizing freshwater withdrawal and 

10 consumption; 

11 (B) increasing water use efficiency; and 

12 (C) utilizing nontraditional water sources 

13 with efforts to improve the quality of the water 

14 from those sources; 

15 (2) considering the effects climate variability 

16 may have on water supplies and quality for energy 

17 generation and fuel production; and 

18 (3) improving understanding of the energy19 water nexus. 

20 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec23 retary shall develop a strategic plan identifying the 

24 research, development, and demonstration needs for 

25 Department programs and projects to carry out sub26 section (a). The strategic plan shall include technical 


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1 milestones for achieving and assessing progress to2 ward the objectives of subsection (a)(1). 

3 (2) SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing 

4 the strategic plan, the Secretary shall consider— 

5 (A) new advanced cooling technologies for 

6 energy generation and fuel production tech7 nologies; 

8 (B) performance improvement of existing 

9 cooling technologies and cost reductions associ10 ated with using those technologies; 

11 (C) innovative water reuse, recovery, and 

12 treatment technologies in energy generation and 

13 fuel production; 

14 (D) technology development for carbon 

15 capture and storage systems that utilize effi16 cient water use design strategies; 

17 (E) technologies that are life-cycle cost ef18 fective; 

19 (F) systems analysis and modeling of 

20 issues relating to the energy-water nexus; 

21 (G) technologies to treat and utilize waste22 water and produced waters discharged from oil, 

23 natural gas, coalbed methane, and any other 

24 substance to be used as an energy source; 


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1 (H) advanced materials for the use of non2 traditional water sources for energy generation 

3 and fuel production; 

4 (I) biomass production and utilization and 

5 the impact on hydrologic systems; 

6 (J) technologies that reduce impacts on 

7 water from energy resource development; 

8 (K) energy efficient technologies for water 

9 distribution, treatment, and collection systems; 

10 (L) technologies for energy generation 

11 from water distribution, treatment, and collec12 tion systems; and 

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

14 nexus that the Secretary considers appropriate. 

15 (3) COLLABORATION AND NONDUPLICATION.— 

16 In developing the strategic plan, the Secretary shall 

17 coordinate and avoid duplication— 

18 (A) with other Federal agencies operating 

19 related programs, if appropriate; and 

20 (B) across programs and projects of the 

21 Department, including with those of the Na22 tional Laboratories. 

23 (4) RELEVANT INFORMATION AND REC24 OMMENDATIONS.—In developing the strategic plan, 

25 the Secretary shall consider and incorporate, as apVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H34.IH H34

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1 propriate, relevant information and recommenda2 tions, including those of the National Water Avail3 ability and Use Assessment Program under section 

4 9508(d) of the Omnibus Public Land Management 

5 Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 10368(d)). 

6 (5) ADDITIONAL PARTICIPATION.—In devel7 oping the strategic plan, the Secretary shall consult 

8 and coordinate with a diverse group of representa9 tives from research and academic institutions, indus10 try, and State and local governments who have ex11 pertise in technologies and practices relating to the 

12 energy-water nexus. 

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

14 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

15 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 

16 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 

17 Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 

18 Natural Resources of the Senate the strategic plan. 

19 (7) UPDATING THE STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not 

20 later than 3 years after the date of enactment of 

21 this Act, and at least once every 5 years thereafter, 

22 the Secretary shall— 

23 (A) utilize relevant information produced 

24 by Federal Government agencies, academia, 


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1 States, and industry to update the strategic 

2 plan; 

3 (B) include in the updated strategic plan a 

4 description of the changes from the previous 

5 strategic plan and the rationale for such 

6 changes; 

7 (C) include a review of progress made to8 wards the milestones outlined in the previous 

9 strategic plan; and 

10 (D) submit the updated strategic plan to 

11 the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech12 nology of the House of Representatives and the 

13 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

14 the Senate. 

15 (c) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may 

16 provide for such additional research, development, and 

17 demonstration activities as appropriate to integrate water 

18 considerations into the research, development, and dem19 onstration activities of the Department as described in 

20 subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 3. ENERGY-WATER OVERSIGHT AND COORDINATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 

23 with other relevant Federal agencies, shall establish an 

24 Energy-Water Subcommittee of the Energy Advisory 

25 Board to promote and enable improved energy and water 


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1 resource data collection, reporting, and technological inno2 vation. The Subcommittee shall consist of— 

3 (1) representation from each program within 

4 the Department and each Federal agency that con5 ducts research related to the energy-water nexus; 

6 and 

7 (2) non-Federal members, including representa8 tives of research and academic institutions, States, 

9 and industry, who have expertise in technologies and 

10 practices relating to the energy-water nexus. 

11 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Subcommittee shall— 

12 (1) make recommendations on the development 

13 and integration of data collection and data commu14 nication standards and protocols to agencies and en15 tities currently engaged in collecting the data for the 

16 energy-water nexus; 

17 (2) recommend ways to make improvements to 

18 Federal water use data to increase understanding of 

19 trends in energy generation and fuel production; 

20 (3) recommend best practices for utilizing infor21 mation from existing monitoring networks to provide 

22 nationally uniform water and energy use and infra23 structure data; and 

24 (4) conduct annual technical workshops, includ25 ing at least 1 regional workshop annually, to faciliVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H34.IH H34

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1 tate information exchange among Federal, regional, 

2 State, local, and tribal governments and private sec3 tor experts on technologies that encourage the con4 servation and efficient use of water and energy. 

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

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

7 thereafter, the Subcommittee, through the Secretary, shall 

8 transmit to Congress a report on its findings and activities 

9 under this section. 

10 SEC. 4. 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. 5. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION. 

17 To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

18 shall coordinate activities under this Act with other pro19 grams of the Department and other Federal research pro20 grams. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

24 means the Department of Energy. 


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1 (2) ENERGY-WATER NEXUS.—The term ‘‘en2 ergy-water nexus’’ means the energy required to pro3 vide reliable water supplies and the water required 

4 to provide reliable energy supplies throughout the 

5 United States. 

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

7 the Secretary of Energy. 

8 (4) SUBCOMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Sub9 committee’’ means the Energy-Water Subcommittee 

10 of the Energy Advisory Board established under sec11 tion 3(a). 

Æ 


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