IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 34 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2019 

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 clean 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 of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INTEGRATING ENERGY AND WATER RESEARCH. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy shall in6 tegrate water considerations into energy research, develop7 ment, and demonstration programs and projects of the 

8 Department of Energy by— 

9 (1) advancing energy and energy efficiency 

10 technologies and practices that meet the objectives 

11 of— 

12 (A) minimizing freshwater withdrawal and 

13 consumption; 

14 (B) increasing water use efficiency; 

15 (C) utilizing nontraditional water sources 

16 with efforts to improve the quality of the water 

17 from those sources; 

18 (D) minimizing deleterious impacts on 

19 water bodies, groundwater, and waterways; and 

20 (E) minimizing seismic impacts; 

21 (2) considering the effects climate variability 

22 may have on water supplies and quality for energy 

23 generation and fuel production; and 

24 (3) improving understanding of the energy25 water nexus. 

26 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 


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

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary shall develop a strategic plan identifying the 

4 research, development, and demonstration needs for 

5 Department programs and projects to carry out sub6 section (a). The strategic plan shall include technical 

7 milestones for achieving and assessing progress to8 ward the objectives of subsection (a)(1). 

9 (2) SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing 

10 the strategic plan, the Secretary shall consider— 

11 (A) new advanced cooling technologies for 

12 energy generation and fuel production tech13 nologies; 

14 (B) performance improvement of existing 

15 cooling technologies and cost reductions associ16 ated with using those technologies; 

17 (C) innovative water reuse, recovery, and 

18 treatment technologies in energy generation and 

19 fuel production, including renewable energy; 

20 (D) technology development for carbon 

21 capture and storage systems that utilize effi22 cient water use design strategies; 

23 (E) technologies that are life-cycle cost ef24 fective; 


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1 (F) systems analysis and modeling of 

2 issues relating to the energy-water nexus; 

3 (G) technologies to treat and utilize waste4 water and produced waters discharged from oil, 

5 natural gas, coalbed methane, and any other 

6 substance to be used as an energy source; 

7 (H) advanced materials for the use of non8 traditional water sources for energy generation 

9 and fuel production; 

10 (I) biomass production and utilization and 

11 the impact on hydrologic systems; 

12 (J) technologies that reduce impacts on 

13 water from energy resource development; 

14 (K) energy efficient technologies for water 

15 distribution, treatment, supply, and collection 

16 systems; 

17 (L) technologies for energy generation 

18 from water distribution, treatment, supply, and 

19 collection systems; 

20 (M) the flexible operation of water infra21 structure to provide essential grid reliability 

22 services; 

23 (N) modular or energy-water microgrid 

24 systems that can provide energy and water re25 sources in remote or disaster recovery areas; 


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1 (O) recovering energy in the form of 

2 biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower from munic3 ipal and industrial wastewaters, and similar or4 ganic streams; and 

5 (P) any other area of the energy-water 

6 nexus that the Secretary considers appropriate. 

7 (3) COLLABORATION AND NONDUPLICATION.— 

8 In developing the strategic plan, the Secretary shall 

9 coordinate and avoid duplication— 

10 (A) with other Federal agencies operating 

11 related programs, if appropriate; and 

12 (B) across programs and projects of the 

13 Department, including with those of the Na14 tional Laboratories. 

15 (4) RELEVANT INFORMATION AND REC16 OMMENDATIONS.—In developing the strategic plan, 

17 the Secretary shall consider and incorporate, as ap18 propriate, relevant information and recommenda19 tions, including those of the National Water Avail20 ability and Use Assessment Program under section 

21 9508(d) of the Omnibus Public Land Management 

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

23 (5) ADDITIONAL PARTICIPATION.—In devel24 oping the strategic plan, the Secretary shall consult 

25 and coordinate with a diverse group of representaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Jul 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H34.RFS H34

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1 tives from research and academic institutions, indus2 try, public utility commissions, and State and local 

3 governments who have expertise in technologies and 

4 practices relating to the energy-water nexus. 

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

6 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

7 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 

8 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 

9 Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 

10 Natural Resources of the Senate the strategic plan. 

11 (7) UPDATING THE STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not 

12 later than 3 years after the date of enactment of 

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

14 the Secretary shall— 

15 (A) utilize relevant information produced 

16 by Federal Government agencies, academia, 

17 State, local, and tribal governments and indus18 try to update the strategic plan; 

19 (B) include in the updated strategic plan a 

20 description of the changes from the previous 

21 strategic plan and the rationale for such 

22 changes; 

23 (C) include a review of progress made to24 wards the milestones outlined in the previous 

25 strategic plan; and 


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1 (D) submit the updated strategic plan to 

2 the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech3 nology of the House of Representatives and the 

4 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

5 the Senate. 

6 (c) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may 

7 provide for such additional research, development, and 

8 demonstration activities as appropriate to integrate water 

9 considerations into the research, development, and dem10 onstration activities of the Department as described in 

11 subsection (a). 

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

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the research, de14 velopment, and demonstration activities outlined in section 

15 2, the Secretary, in coordination with other relevant Fed16 eral agencies, shall establish an Energy-Water Committee 

17 to promote and enable improved energy and water re18 source data collection, reporting, and technological innova19 tion. The Committee shall consist of— 

20 (1) representation from each program within 

21 the Department and each Federal agency that con22 ducts research related to the energy-water nexus; 

23 and 

24 (2) non-Federal members, including representa25 tives of research and academic institutions, State, 


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1 local, and tribal governments, public utility commis2 sions, and industry, who have expertise in tech3 nologies, technological innovations, or practices re4 lating to the energy-water nexus. 

5 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Committee shall, in carrying 

6 out section 2— 

7 (1) make recommendations on the development 

8 and integration of data collection and data commu9 nication standards and protocols, including models 

10 and modeling results, to agencies and entities cur11 rently engaged in collecting the data for the energy12 water nexus; 

13 (2) recommend ways to make improvements to 

14 Federal water use data to increase understanding of 

15 trends in energy generation and fuel production, in16 cluding non-cooling water uses; 

17 (3) recommend best practices for utilizing infor18 mation from existing monitoring networks to provide 

19 nationally uniform water and energy use and infra20 structure data; and 

21 (4) conduct annual technical workshops, includ22 ing at least one regional workshop annually, to fa23 cilitate information exchange among Federal, re24 gional, State, local, and tribal governments and pri25 vate sector experts on technologies that encourage 


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1 the conservation and efficient use of water and en2 ergy. 

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

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

5 thereafter, the Committee, through the Secretary, shall 

6 transmit to Congress a report on its findings and activities 

7 under this section. 

8 (d) APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COM9 MITTEE ACT.—Except as otherwise provided in this sec10 tion, the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) 

11 shall apply to the Committee. 

12 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

13 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing 

14 in this Act shall be construed to require State, tribal, or 

15 local governments to provide additional data for Federal 

16 purposes, or to take any action that may result in an in17 creased financial burden to such governments by restrict18 ing the use of water by such governments. 

19 SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION. 

20 To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

21 shall coordinate activities under this Act with other pro22 grams of the Department and other Federal research pro23 grams. 

24 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 

2 means the Energy-Water Committee established 

3 under section 3(a). 

4 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

5 means the Department of Energy. 

6 (3) ENERGY-WATER NEXUS.—The term ‘‘en7 ergy-water nexus’’ means the energy required to pro8 vide reliable water supplies and the water required 

9 to provide reliable energy supplies throughout the 

10 United States. 

11 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Energy. 

13 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

14 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

15 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

16 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

17 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

18 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

19 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, 


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1 provided that such statement has been submitted prior to 

2 the vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 23, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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