[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6508 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6508

   To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require that underground 
 injection control programs prevent seismicity induced by underground 
             injection activities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2016

 Mr. Grijalva introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require that underground 
 injection control programs prevent seismicity induced by underground 
             injection activities, 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 ``Preventing Preventable Earthquakes 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SEISMICITY INDUCED BY HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.

    (a) Prevention of Seismicity Induced by Underground Injection 
Activities.--
            (1) Regulations for state programs.--Section 1421(b) of the 
        Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(b)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``and'' after the semicolon;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following 
                        new subparagraph:
            ``(E) shall include provisions designed to prevent the 
        occurrence of seismicity induced by underground injection 
        activities.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``or are 
                designed to prevent the occurrence of seismicity 
                induced by such injection'' after ``endangered by such 
                injection''.
            (2) State primary enforcement responsibility.--Section 1422 
        of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h-1) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (a), by inserting ``or result in 
                the occurrence of seismicity induced by such 
                injection'' after ``endanger drinking water sources'';
                    (B) in subsection (b)(3)--
                            (i) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``If the 
                        Administrator''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(B) The Administrator shall, at least once every 5 years, 
        review each State underground injection control program 
        approved under paragraph (2) to determine if such State program 
        meets the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 
        (1)(A) of this subsection.''; and
                    (C) in subsection (c), by inserting ``or seismicity 
                will not be induced by such injection'' after 
                ``endangered by such injection''.
    (b) Repeal of Exemption for Hydraulic Fracturing.--Section 
1421(d)(1) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)(1)) is 
amended by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the following:
                    ``(B) includes the subsurface emplacement of fluids 
                or propping agents pursuant to hydraulic fracturing 
                operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal 
                production activities.''.
    (c) Optional Demonstration by States Relating to Oil or Natural 
Gas.--Section 1425 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h-4) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``(A) through (D)'' and 
        inserting ``(A) through (E)''; and
            (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``(A) through (D)'' and 
        inserting ``(A) through (E)''.
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