[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1175 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1175

    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and direct the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study with respect to stormwater 
      runoff from oil and gas operations, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 2013

Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, 
   Mr. Capuano, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Farr, Mr. Fattah, Mr. 
 Grayson, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Holt, Mr. Honda, 
  Mr. Huffman, Mr. Keating, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. 
Lofgren, Mrs. Lowey, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Meng, Mr. Moran, Mr. Nadler, Ms. 
    Norton, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Quigley, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. 
Schwartz, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Tsongas, 
  Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Takano, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Peters of Michigan, Mr. 
 Lowenthal, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Ms. Chu, Mr. Van Hollen, 
 and Ms. Edwards) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
           the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

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                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and direct the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study with respect to stormwater 
      runoff from oil and gas operations, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Focused Reduction of Effluence and 
Stormwater runoff through Hydrofracking Environmental Regulation Act of 
2013'' or the ``FRESHER Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. STORMWATER RUNOFF FROM OIL, GAS, AND MINING OPERATIONS.

    (a) Limitation on Permit Requirement.--Section 402 of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by striking 
subsection (l) and inserting the following:
    ``(l) Limitation on Permit Requirement.--The Administrator shall 
not require a permit under this section for discharges composed 
entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture, nor shall the 
Administrator directly or indirectly, require any State to require such 
a permit.''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (24); and
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (25) as paragraph (24).
    (c) Study.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
        conduct a study of stormwater impacts with respect to any area 
        that the Secretary determines may be contaminated by stormwater 
        runoff associated with oil or gas operations, which shall 
        include--
                    (A) an analysis of measurable contamination in such 
                area;
                    (B) an analysis of ground water resources in such 
                area; and
                    (C) an analysis of the susceptibility of aquifers 
                in such area to contamination from stormwater runoff 
                associated with such operations.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to 
        Congress a report on the results of studies conducted under 
        paragraph (1).
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