[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2978 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2978

    To ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department of 
 Energy's energy research, development, and demonstration programs to 
help guarantee efficient, reliable, and sustainable delivery of energy 
                       and clean water resources.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 4, 2019

 Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Mr. Crapo) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department of 
 Energy's energy research, development, and demonstration programs to 
help guarantee efficient, reliable, and sustainable delivery of energy 
                       and clean water resources.

    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 ``Energy and Water Research 
Integration Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. INTEGRATING ENERGY AND WATER RESEARCH.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Energy shall integrate water 
considerations into energy research, development, and demonstration 
programs and projects of the Department of Energy by--
            (1) advancing energy and energy efficiency technologies and 
        practices that meet the objectives of--
                    (A) minimizing freshwater withdrawal and 
                consumption;
                    (B) increasing water use efficiency;
                    (C) utilizing nontraditional water sources with 
                efforts to improve the quality of the water from those 
                sources;
                    (D) minimizing deleterious impacts on water bodies, 
                groundwater, and waterways; and
                    (E) minimizing seismic impacts;
            (2) considering the effects climate variability may have on 
        water supplies and quality for energy generation and fuel 
        production; and
            (3) improving understanding of the energy-water nexus.
    (b) Strategic Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 12 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop a strategic 
        plan identifying the research, development, and demonstration 
        needs for Department programs and projects to carry out 
        subsection (a). The strategic plan shall include technical 
        milestones for achieving and assessing progress toward the 
        objectives of subsection (a)(1).
            (2) Specific considerations.--In developing the strategic 
        plan, the Secretary shall consider--
                    (A) new advanced cooling technologies for energy 
                generation and fuel production technologies;
                    (B) performance improvement of existing cooling 
                technologies and cost reductions associated with using 
                those technologies;
                    (C) innovative water reuse, recovery, and treatment 
                technologies in energy generation and fuel production, 
                including renewable energy;
                    (D) technology development for carbon capture and 
                storage systems that utilize efficient water use design 
                strategies;
                    (E) technologies that are life-cycle cost 
                effective;
                    (F) systems analysis and modeling of issues 
                relating to the energy-water nexus;
                    (G) technologies to treat and utilize wastewater 
                and produced waters discharged from oil, natural gas, 
                coalbed methane, and any other substance to be used as 
                an energy source;
                    (H) advanced materials for the use of 
                nontraditional water sources for energy generation and 
                fuel production;
                    (I) biomass production and utilization and the 
                impact on hydrologic systems;
                    (J) technologies that reduce impacts on water from 
                energy resource development;
                    (K) energy efficient technologies for water 
                distribution, treatment, supply, and collection 
                systems;
                    (L) technologies for energy generation from water 
                distribution, treatment, supply, and collection 
                systems;
                    (M) the flexible operation of water infrastructure 
                to provide essential grid reliability services;
                    (N) modular or energy-water microgrid systems that 
                can provide energy and water resources in remote or 
                disaster recovery areas;
                    (O) recovering energy in the form of biofuels, 
                bioproducts, and biopower from municipal and industrial 
                wastewaters, and similar organic streams; and
                    (P) any other area of the energy-water nexus that 
                the Secretary considers appropriate.
            (3) Collaboration and nonduplication.--In developing the 
        strategic plan, the Secretary shall coordinate and avoid 
        duplication--
                    (A) with other Federal agencies operating related 
                programs, if appropriate; and
                    (B) across programs and projects of the Department, 
                including with those of the National Laboratories.
            (4) Relevant information and recommendations.--In 
        developing the strategic plan, the Secretary shall consider and 
        incorporate, as appropriate, relevant information and 
        recommendations, including those of the National Water 
        Availability and Use Assessment Program under section 9508(d) 
        of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 
        10368(d)).
            (5) Additional participation.--In developing the strategic 
        plan, the Secretary shall consult and coordinate with a diverse 
        group of representatives from research and academic 
        institutions, industry, public utility commissions, and State 
        and local governments who have expertise in technologies and 
        practices relating to the energy-water nexus.
            (6) Submission to congress.--Not later than 12 months after 
        the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
        to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House 
        of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
        Resources of the Senate the strategic plan.
            (7) Updating the strategic plan.--Not later than 3 years 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, and at least once 
        every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) utilize relevant information produced by 
                Federal Government agencies, academia, State, local, 
                and tribal governments and industry to update the 
                strategic plan;
                    (B) include in the updated strategic plan a 
                description of the changes from the previous strategic 
                plan and the rationale for such changes;
                    (C) include a review of progress made towards the 
                milestones outlined in the previous strategic plan; and
                    (D) submit the updated strategic plan to the 
                Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
                House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 
                and Natural Resources of the Senate.
    (c) Additional Activities.--The Secretary may provide for such 
additional research, development, and demonstration activities as 
appropriate to integrate water considerations into the research, 
development, and demonstration activities of the Department as 
described in subsection (a).

SEC. 3. ENERGY-WATER OVERSIGHT AND COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--In carrying out the research, development, and 
demonstration activities outlined in section 2, the Secretary, in 
coordination with other relevant Federal agencies, shall establish an 
Energy-Water Committee to promote and enable improved energy and water 
resource data collection, reporting, and technological innovation. The 
Committee shall consist of--
            (1) representation from each program within the Department 
        and each Federal agency that conducts research related to the 
        energy-water nexus; and
            (2) non-Federal members, including representatives of 
        research and academic institutions, State, local, and tribal 
        governments, public utility commissions, and industry, who have 
        expertise in technologies, technological innovations, or 
        practices relating to the energy-water nexus.
    (b) Functions.--The Committee shall, in carrying out section 2--
            (1) make recommendations on the development and integration 
        of data collection and data communication standards and 
        protocols, including models and modeling results, to agencies 
        and entities currently engaged in collecting the data for the 
        energy-water nexus;
            (2) recommend ways to make improvements to Federal water 
        use data to increase understanding of trends in energy 
        generation and fuel production, including non-cooling water 
        uses;
            (3) recommend best practices for utilizing information from 
        existing monitoring networks to provide nationally uniform 
        water and energy use and infrastructure data; and
            (4) conduct annual technical workshops, including at least 
        one regional workshop annually, to facilitate information 
        exchange among Federal, regional, State, local, and tribal 
        governments and private sector experts on technologies that 
        encourage the conservation and efficient use of water and 
        energy.
    (c) Reports.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and at least once every 2 years thereafter, the Committee, 
through the Secretary, shall transmit to Congress a report on its 
findings and activities under this section.
    (d) Applicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act.--Except as 
otherwise provided in this section, the Federal Advisory Committee Act 
(5 U.S.C. App.) shall apply to the Committee.

SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to require State, tribal, or local governments to 
provide additional data for Federal purposes, or to take any action 
that may result in an increased financial burden to such governments by 
restricting the use of water by such governments.

SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.

    To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall coordinate 
activities under this Act with other programs of the Department and 
other Federal research programs.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Committee.--The term ``Committee'' means the Energy-
        Water Committee established under section 3(a).
            (2) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Energy.
            (3) Energy-water nexus.--The term ``energy-water nexus'' 
        means the energy required to provide reliable water supplies 
        and the water required to provide reliable energy supplies 
        throughout the United States.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

    The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying 
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by 
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional 
Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 
such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
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