I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 469 

To encourage research, development, and demonstration of technologies to 

facilitate the utilization of water produced in connection with the development of domestic energy resources, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. HALL of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To encourage research, development, and demonstration of 

technologies to facilitate the utilization of water produced 

in connection with the development of domestic energy 

resources, 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 ‘‘Produced Water Utili5 zation Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) PRODUCED WATER.—The term ‘‘produced 

2 water’’ means water from an underground source 

3 that is brought to the surface as part of the process 

4 of exploration for or development of coalbed meth5 ane, oil, natural gas, or any other substance to be 

6 used as an energy source. 

7 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Energy. 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out 

11 under this Act a program of research, development, and 

12 demonstration of technologies for environmentally sustain13 able utilization of produced water for agricultural, 

14 irrigational, municipal, and industrial uses, or other envi15 ronmentally sustainable purposes. The program shall be 

16 designed to maximize the utilization of produced water in 

17 the United States by increasing the quality of produced 

18 water and reducing the environmental impacts of produced 

19 water. 

20 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program under this 

21 Act shall address the following areas, including improving 

22 safety and minimizing environmental impacts of activities 

23 within each area: 


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1 (1) Produced water recovery, including research 

2 for desalination and demineralization to reduce total 

3 dissolved solids in the produced water. 

4 (2) Produced water utilization for agricultural, 

5 irrigational, municipal, and industrial uses, or other 

6 environmentally sustainable purposes. 

7 (3) Re-injection of produced water into sub8 surface geological formations to increase energy pro9 duction. 

10 (c) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out the 

11 purposes under this Act, the Secretary may enter into an 

12 agreement with a consortium whose members have collec13 tively demonstrated capabilities and experience in plan14 ning and managing research, development, demonstration, 

15 and commercial application programs for unconventional 

16 natural gas and other petroleum production and produced 

17 water utilization. 

18 (d) ACTIVITIES AT THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES.— 

19 The Secretary, through the appropriate National Labora20 tory, shall carry out a program of research, development, 

21 and demonstration activities complementary to and sup22 portive of the research, development, and demonstration 

23 programs under subsection (b). 


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1 SEC. 4. CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION. 

2 (a) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this Act, the 

3 Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior 

4 and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

5 Agency. 

6 (b) COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent prac7 ticable, the Secretary shall ensure that the activities under 

8 this Act are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the 

9 efforts of, programs at the Department of Energy and 

10 other government agencies. 

11 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

12 (a) ALLOCATION.—Amounts appropriated for this 

13 Act for each fiscal year shall be allocated as follows: 

14 (1) 75 percent shall be for activities under sec15 tion 3(a), (b), and (c). 

16 (2) 25 percent shall be for activities under sec17 tion 3(d) and other activities under section 3, includ18 ing administrative functions such as program direc19 tion, overall program oversight, and contract man20 agement. 

21 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

23 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 

Æ 


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