[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3671-3673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PRODUCED WATER UTILIZATION ACT OF 2009

  Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 469) to encourage research, development, and 
demonstration of technologies to facilitate the utilization of water 
produced in connection with the development of domestic energy 
resources, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 469

       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 ``Produced Water Utilization 
     Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Produced water.--The term ``produced water'' means 
     water from an underground source that is brought to the 
     surface as part of the process of exploration for or 
     development of coalbed methane, oil, natural gas, or any 
     other substance to be used as an energy source.
       (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Energy.

     SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out under this 
     Act a program of research, development, and demonstration of 
     technologies for environmentally sustainable utilization of 
     produced water for agricultural, irrigational, municipal, and 
     industrial uses, or other environmentally sustainable 
     purposes. The program shall be designed to

[[Page 3672]]

     maximize the utilization of produced water in the United 
     States by increasing the quality of produced water and 
     reducing the environmental impacts of produced water.
       (b) Program Elements.--The program under this Act shall 
     address the following areas, including improving safety and 
     minimizing environmental impacts of activities within each 
     area:
       (1) Produced water recovery, including research for 
     desalination and demineralization to reduce total dissolved 
     solids in the produced water.
       (2) Produced water utilization for agricultural, 
     irrigational, municipal, and industrial uses, or other 
     environmentally sustainable purposes.
       (3) Re-injection of produced water into subsurface 
     geological formations to increase energy production.
       (c) Program Administration.--To carry out the purposes 
     under this Act, the Secretary may enter into an agreement 
     with a consortium whose members have collectively 
     demonstrated capabilities and experience in planning and 
     managing research, development, demonstration, and commercial 
     application programs for unconventional natural gas and other 
     petroleum production and produced water utilization.
       (d) Activities at the National Laboratories.--The 
     Secretary, through the appropriate National Laboratory, shall 
     carry out a program of research, development, and 
     demonstration activities complementary to and supportive of 
     the research, development, and demonstration programs under 
     subsection (b).

     SEC. 4. CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.

       (a) Consultation.--In carrying out this Act, the Secretary 
     shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior and the 
     Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
       (b) Coordination.--To the maximum extent practicable, the 
     Secretary shall ensure that the activities under this Act are 
     coordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, 
     programs at the Department of Energy and other government 
     agencies.

     SEC. 5. FUNDING.

       (a) Allocation.--Amounts appropriated for this Act for each 
     fiscal year shall be allocated as follows:
       (1) 75 percent shall be for activities under section 3(a), 
     (b), and (c).
       (2) 25 percent shall be for activities under section 3(d) 
     and other activities under section 3, including 
     administrative functions such as program direction, overall 
     program oversight, and contract management.
       (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each 
     of fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 469, the bill now 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I'm pleased the House will consider today H.R. 469, the Produced 
Water Utilization Act. And I would like to thank my good friend and 
ranking member, Mr. Hall, for his legislation and interest in this 
field of research.
  H.R. 469, the Produced Water Utilization Act, creates a research, 
development and demonstration program to promote the beneficial reuse 
of water produced in connection with oil and gas exploration, something 
that Mr. Hall knows a lot about.
  In the United States, up to 2.3 billion gallons per day of produced 
water is generated. Unfortunately, this water is not of sufficient 
quality to be used to meet our many needs for water. This legislation 
will provide innovative treatment technologies that will enable the 
reuse of this water in an environmentally responsible way.
  Once again, I thank Mr. Hall for bringing this to our attention and 
for passing it out of our committee on a unanimous vote.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 469, 
the Produced Water Utilization Act of 2009. I had the pleasure of 
working with Chairman Bart Gordon on this and introduced H.R. 469 in 
the 110th Congress as H.R. 2339. In July of 2008, the bill was reported 
out of the Committee on Science and Technology by a voice vote and then 
was passed by the House of Representatives again by a voice vote on 
July 30. It comes to the floor today virtually unchanged. Only the 
short title and the authorization years have been updated.
  For those who are not familiar with the term, the Department of the 
Interior defines ``produced water'' as mainly salty water trapped in 
reservoir rock and brought up along with oil or gas during production. 
Produced water cannot, in its current form, be used for any purposes, 
and it is most commonly reinjected into the ground at great expense to 
small producers across the country. Each barrel of oil that is produced 
generates approximately 10 barrels of produced water, and we currently 
produce over 5 billion gallons of produced water a day in the U.S. That 
is enough water to accommodate 14.3 million homes a day.
  As we face shortages in energy and water, this bill could not be more 
timely. H.R. 469 is legislation that has two main purposes, first, to 
increase domestic energy production by lowering production costs for 
small producers and, second, to increase the amount of water available 
for agricultural, irrigational, municipal and industrial uses by making 
produced water stable. The Produced Water Utilization Act will provide 
important funding for research, development, demonstration and 
commercial application of technologies to purify and use the produced 
water.
  There is a critical interdependency between energy and water. Water 
is needed to produce energy, and the treatment and distribution of 
water requires energy. And as our population grows, so will the demands 
on both. According to a report by the Department of Energy on the 
Interdependency of Energy and Water ``the lack of integrated energy and 
water planning and management has already impacted energy production in 
many basins and regions across the country. For example, in three of 
the fastest-growing regions in the country, the Southeast, Southwest 
and the Northwest, new power plants have been opposed because of 
potential negative impacts on water supplies. Also, recent droughts and 
emerging limitations of water resources have many States, including my 
State of Texas, also South Dakota, Wisconsin and Tennessee, scrambling 
to develop water use priorities for different water use sectors.''

                              {time}  1400

  We obviously need to take a serious look at how we can avoid a water/
energy crisis, and this bill certainly helps.
  Mr. Speaker, produced water is currently considered an expensive 
nuisance by oil and gas producers, but it needs to be considered a 
valuable, usable commodity. With the research and development set forth 
in the Produced Water Utilization Act, we can make it happen. I urge my 
colleagues to vote for the bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Barton).
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I thank the distinguished ranking member. I 
assume I'm rising in support of the bill, so I guess I need to 
compliment our distinguished chairman and our ranking member on this 
excellent legislative work.
  But what I really want to talk about is the no-conference conference 
on the stimulus package. I just came out of a meeting with Leader 
Boehner, the minority leader. There is going to be some sort of a 
conference meeting at 3 o'clock this afternoon in the LBJ room on the 
other side of the Capitol. We've been told, though, that the Speaker 
and the majority leader have locked the conference down, and they want 
to have it voted on and passed by 6 o'clock Friday afternoon so that 
the Speaker can go on her trip to Italy and Afghanistan.
  So, in this meeting in Leader Boehner's office, since I'm not a 
conferee, even though we've got about $200

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billion of jurisdiction on the Energy and Commerce Committee, things 
like Medicare and broadband and something called electricity 
decoupling, where people that actually use less electricity are going 
to pay more for it, I'm not sure I understand how that's stimulative to 
the economy.
  But I asked what the agenda was and nobody seems to know. The good 
news is there actually is going to be a conference meeting, although 
the decision has already been made. So my question to the majority in 
this body is, how do you move an $800 billion package, which is larger 
than the entire economy of the nation of Australia, with almost no 
transparency, no accountability, and a conference committee that's 
already been pre-ordained what they're going to report out some time 
tonight or tomorrow? Somehow that strikes me as a bad thing for 
democracy, a bad thing for the House and the Senate, and a bad deal for 
the American people.
  So if I were a conferee, and there was a real conference I would ask 
questions, how does electricity decoupling really work? Why should we 
ask our consumers to use less electricity and pay for more the 
electricity that they use? Why is that a good thing? And why was it put 
in a bill that we haven't had a hearing on and most of the Members of 
the body on both sides of the aisle don't even know what the concept of 
electricity decoupling is.
  So I guess, Mr. Speaker, I will end up by saying I wish that we ran 
the whole House like Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall run the 
Science Committee, where there really is cooperation, there really is 
bipartisanship, and the result is that bills come to the floor that 
both sides can support.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I would be happy to yield.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. You are ranking member on Energy and Commerce and 
former chairman of Energy and Commerce.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. That's correct.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. And you are not on the conference committee?
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I am not.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Is that unusual?
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. It's unprecedented.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 469--the 
Produced Water Utilization Act of 2009--introduced by the Ranking 
Member of the Science Committee, Mr. Hall of Texas. I want to thank Mr. 
Hall for constructing this thoughtful legislation and for the constant 
leadership he has provided to both Energy and Commerce Committee and 
the Science Committee.
  Produced water is comprised mainly of salty water that is trapped in 
reservoir rock below ground. It comes to the surface when drilling for 
oil or natural gas and usually contains oil and metals from production. 
Approximately 10 barrels of produced water are captured for every 
barrel of oil derived, and that results in a total of 15-20 billion 
barrels of produced water generated here in the United States on an 
annual basis.
  Mr. Speaker, as the population of the United States continues to 
grow, additional potable water supplies will be required to sustain 
individuals, agriculture, and industry all over the country. H.R. 469 
represents an innovative way in which we can utilize the produced water 
resources that would otherwise go to waste.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation directs the Secretary of Energy to 
establish a program for research and development to harvest produced 
water in an environmentally safe way for irrigation, municipal, and 
industrial purposes. Once this program is established, we can help 
address the droughts that are occurring across the country--including 
in my Northwest Georgia district--simply by providing the public with 
additional water resources.
  Mr. Speaker, I have to commend my colleague from Texas on his 
leadership on this issue and working in a bipartisan manner to bring it 
to the floor today.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 469.
  Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I yield back the balance of my time and urge 
passage of this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Serrano). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 469.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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