United States HR 484: To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands, and for other purposes.

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 484
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior
to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 10, 2019
Mr. SOTO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Sec-
retary of the Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing
operations on Federal lands, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF BLM TO REGULATE HYDRAULIC 3
FRACTURING OPERATIONS. 4
(a) AUTHORITY OF BLM TO REGULATE HYDRAULIC 5
FRACTURING OPERATIONS.—The Mineral Leasing Act 6
(30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended— 7
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•HR 484 IH
(1) by redesignating section 44 as section 45; 1
and 2
(2) by adding after section 43 the following: 3
‘‘SEC. 44. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS. 4
‘‘(a) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 5
the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau 6
of Land Management, shall regulate hydraulic fracturing 7
operations on Federal lands under the administration of 8
such Secretary with respect to the purposes of this Act. 9
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS ON OPERATORS.—The Sec-10
retary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the 11
Bureau of Land Management, shall require as a condition 12
of receiving a permit or other authorization under this sec-13
tion an operator to— 14
‘‘(1) conduct baseline water testing; and 15
‘‘(2) disclose to the public on an internet web-16
site the chemicals used by such operator to conduct 17
hydraulic fracturing operations. 18
‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OP-19
ERATIONS.—The term ‘hydraulic fracturing operations’— 20
‘‘(1) means those operations conducted in an 21
individual wellbore designed to increase the flow of 22
hydrocarbons from the rock formation to the 23
wellbore through modifying the permeability of res-24
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ervoir rock by applying fluids under pressure to frac-1
ture it; and 2
‘‘(2) does not include enhanced secondary re-3
covery such as water flooding, tertiary recovery, re-4
covery through steam injection, or other types of 5
well stimulation operations such as acidizing.’’. 6
(b) DEFINITION OF UNDERGROUND INJECTION.— 7
Section 1421(d)(1)(B) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 8
(42 U.S.C. 300h(d)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows: 9
‘‘(B) Excludes the underground injection 10
of natural gas for purposes of storage.’’. 11
Æ
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