Title: To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
This bill addresses requirements concerning hydraulic fracturing operations. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the formation.
Specifically, this bill subjects the underground injection of such fluids or propping agents to regulation under state underground injection control programs, which protect drinking water.
In addition, the bill (1) requires the Bureau of Land Management to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on federal land administered by the Department of the Interior, and (2) establishes permit requirements for such operations.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 484 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 484

  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2019

   Mr. Soto introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
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 concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF BLM TO REGULATE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 
              OPERATIONS.

    (a) Authority of BLM To Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing Operations.--
The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 44 as section 45; and
            (2) by adding after section 43 the following:

``SEC. 44. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS.

    ``(a) Regulatory Authority.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting 
through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall regulate 
hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands under the 
administration of such Secretary with respect to the purposes of this 
Act.
    ``(b) Requirements on Operators.--The Secretary of the Interior, 
acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall 
require as a condition of receiving a permit or other authorization 
under this section an operator to--
            ``(1) conduct baseline water testing; and
            ``(2) disclose to the public on an internet website the 
        chemicals used by such operator to conduct hydraulic fracturing 
        operations.
    ``(c) Definition of Hydraulic Fracturing Operations.--The term 
`hydraulic fracturing operations'--
            ``(1) means those operations conducted in an individual 
        wellbore designed to increase the flow of hydrocarbons from the 
        rock formation to the wellbore through modifying the 
        permeability of reservoir rock by applying fluids under 
        pressure to fracture it; and
            ``(2) does not include enhanced secondary recovery such as 
        water flooding, tertiary recovery, recovery through steam 
        injection, or other types of well stimulation operations such 
        as acidizing.''.
    (b) Definition of Underground Injection.--Section 1421(d)(1)(B) of 
the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)(1)(B)) is amended to 
read as follows:
                    ``(B) Excludes the underground injection of natural 
                gas for purposes of storage.''.
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