I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2850 
To require certain procedures in the conduct by the Environmental Protection 
Agency of its study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing 
on drinking water resources. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2013 
Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. STEWART, and Mrs. LUMMIS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To require certain procedures in the conduct by the Environ-
mental Protection Agency of its study of the potential 
impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water re-
sources. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EPA Hydraulic Frac-
turing Study Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. EPA HYDRAULIC FRACTURING RESEARCH. 
In conducting its study of the potential impacts of 
hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, with re-
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spect to which a request for information was issued under 
Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 218, the Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency shall adhere to the 
following requirements: 
(1) PEER
REVIEW
AND
INFORMATION
QUAL-
ITY.—Prior to issuance and dissemination of any 
final report or any interim report summarizing the 
Environmental Protection Agency’s research on the 
relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drink-
ing water, the Administrator shall— 
(A) consider such reports to be Highly In-
fluential Scientific Assessments and require 
peer review of such reports in accordance with 
guidelines governing such assessments, as de-
scribed in— 
(i) 
the 
Environmental 
Protection 
Agency’s Peer Review Handbook 3rd Edi-
tion; 
(ii) the Environmental Protection 
Agency’s Scientific Integrity Policy, as in 
effect on the date of enactment of this Act; 
and 
(iii) the Office of Management and 
Budget’s Peer Review Bulletin, as in effect 
on the date of enactment of this Act; and 
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(B) require such reports to meet the stand-
ards and procedures for the dissemination of in-
fluential scientific, financial, or statistical infor-
mation set forth in the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency’s Guidelines for Ensuring and 
Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, 
and Integrity of Information Disseminated by 
the Environmental Protection Agency, devel-
oped in response to guidelines issued by the Of-
fice of Management and Budget under section 
515(a) of the Treasury and General Govern-
ment Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 
(Public Law 106–554). 
(2) PROBABILITY, UNCERTAINTY, AND
CON-
SEQUENCE.—In order to maximize the quality and 
utility of information developed through the study, 
the Administrator shall ensure that identification of 
the possible impacts of hydraulic fracturing on 
drinking water resources included in such reports be 
accompanied by objective estimates of the prob-
ability, uncertainty, and consequence of each identi-
fied impact, taking into account the risk manage-
ment practices of States and industry. Estimates or 
descriptions of probability, uncertainty, and con-
sequence shall be as quantitative as possible given 
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the validity, accuracy, precision, and other quality 
attributes of the underlying data and analyses, but 
no more quantitative than the data and analyses can 
support. 
Æ 
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