I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4322 
To clarify that a State has the sole authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing 
on Federal land within the boundaries of the State. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 29, 2012 
Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. BARTON of 
Texas, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. FRANKS 
of Arizona, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. STUTZMAN, Mr. BERG, Mr. POE of Texas, 
Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. HALL, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. CARTER, Mr. BRADY 
of Texas, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. NEUGE-
BAUER, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. THORNBERRY) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To clarify that a State has the sole authority to regulate 
hydraulic fracturing on Federal land within the bound-
aries of the State. 
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 ‘‘Fracturing Regula-
tions are Effective in State Hands Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) hydraulic fracturing is a commercially viable 
practice that has been used in the United States for 
more than 60 years in more than 1,000,000 wells; 
(2) the Ground Water Protection Council, a na-
tional association of State water regulators that is 
considered to be a leading groundwater protection 
organization in the United States, released a report 
entitled ‘‘State Oil and Natural Gas Regulations De-
signed to Protect Water Resources’’ and dated May 
2009 finding that the ‘‘current State regulation of 
oil and gas activities is environmentally proactive 
and preventive’’; 
(3) that report also concluded that ‘‘[a]ll oil 
and gas producing States have regulations which are 
designed to provide protection for water resources’’; 
(4) a 2004 study by the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, entitled ‘‘Evaluation of Impacts to Un-
derground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic 
Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs’’, found 
no evidence of drinking water wells contaminated by 
fracture fluid from the fracked formation; 
(5) a 2009 report by the Ground Water Protec-
tion Council, entitled ‘‘State Oil and Natural Gas 
Regulations Designed to Protect Water Resources’’, 
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found a ‘‘lack of evidence’’ that hydraulic fracturing 
conducted in both deep and shallow formations pre-
sents a risk of endangerment to ground water; 
(6) a January 2009 resolution by the Interstate 
Oil and Gas Compact Commission stated ‘‘The 
states, who regulate production, have comprehensive 
laws and regulations to ensure operations are safe 
and to protect drinking water. States have found no 
verified cases of groundwater contamination associ-
ated with hydraulic fracturing.’’; 
(7) on May 24, 2011, before the Oversight and 
Government Reform Committee of the House of 
Representatives, Lisa Jackson, the Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency, testified that 
she was ‘‘not aware of any proven case where the 
fracking process itself has affected water’’; 
(8) in 2011, Bureau of Land Management Di-
rector Bob Abbey stated, ‘‘We have not seen evi-
dence of any adverse effect as a result of the use of 
the chemicals that are part of that fracking tech-
nology.’’; 
(9)(A) activities relating to hydraulic fracturing 
(such as surface discharges, wastewater disposal, 
and air emissions) are already regulated at the Fed-
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eral level under a variety of environmental statutes, 
including portions of— 
(i) the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 
(ii) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); and 
(iii) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7401 et seq.); but 
(B) Congress has continually elected not to in-
clude the hydraulic fracturing process in the under-
ground injection control program under the Safe 
Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 
(10) in 2011, the Secretary of the Interior an-
nounced the intention to promulgate new Federal 
regulations governing hydraulic fracturing on Fed-
eral land; and 
(11) a February 2012 study by the Energy In-
stitute at the University of Texas at Austin, entitled 
‘‘Fact-Based Regulation for Environmental Protec-
tion in Shale Gas Development’’, found that ‘‘[n]o 
evidence of chemicals from hydraulic fracturing fluid 
has been found in aquifers as a result of fracturing 
operations’’. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FEDERAL LAND. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Federal land’’ means— 
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(1) public lands (as defined in section 103 of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 
(2) National Forest System land; 
(3) land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of 
Reclamation; and 
(4) land under the jurisdiction of the Corps of 
Engineers. 
SEC. 4. STATE AUTHORITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A State shall have the sole au-
thority to promulgate or enforce any regulation, guidance, 
or permit requirement regarding the underground injec-
tion of fluids or propping agents pursuant to the hydraulic 
fracturing process, or any component of that process, re-
lating to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities on 
or under any land within the boundaries of the State. 
(b) FEDERAL LAND.—The underground injection of 
fluids or propping agents pursuant to the hydraulic frac-
turing process, or any components of that process, relating 
to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities on Federal 
land shall be subject to the law of the State in which the 
land is located. 
Æ 
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