[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1554 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1554

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 11, 2015

    Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mrs. 
  Feinstein) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and to 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 
2015'' or the ``FRESHER Act of 2015''.

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

    (a) Limitation on Permit Requirement.--Section 402(l) of the 
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(l)) is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (2);
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and
            (3) in paragraph (2)(C) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``402(l)(3)(A)'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``subparagraph (A)''.
    (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 paragraphs (25) and (26) as paragraphs 
        (24) and (25), respectively.
    (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 an analysis of--
                    (A) measurable contamination in the area;
                    (B) ground water resources in the area; and
                    (C) the susceptibility of aquifers in the area to 
                contamination from stormwater runoff associated with 
                the oil or gas operations.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
        report on the results of the study conducted under paragraph 
        (1).
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