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.

Summary

This bill addresses requirements concerning hydraulic fracturing operations. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the formation. Specifically, this bill subjects the underground injection of such fluids or propping agents to regulation under state underground injection control programs, which protect drinking water. In addition, the bill (1) requires the Bureau of Land Management to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on federal land administered by the Department of the Interior, and (2) establishes permit requirements for such operations.

Bill Text

• Introduced Introduced in House Current html January 10, 2019

Compared against current U.S. Code AI-generated reading aid — verify against the official bill.

The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands and modifies the definition of underground injection in the Safe Drinking Water Act to exclude certain natural gas storage.

• 30 U.S.C. 181

  SEC. 44. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS. (a) Regulatory Authority.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall regulate hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal lands under the administration of such Secretary with respect to the purposes of this Act. (b) Requirements on Operators.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall require as a condition of receiving a permit or other authorization under this section an operator to-- (1) conduct baseline water testing; and (2) disclose to the public on an internet website the chemicals used by such operator to conduct hydraulic fracturing operations. (c) Definition of Hydraulic Fracturing Operations.--The term `hydraulic fracturing operations'-- (1) means those operations conducted in an individual wellbore designed to increase the flow of hydrocarbons from the rock formation to the wellbore through modifying the permeability of reservoir rock by applying fluids under pressure to fracture it; and (2) does not include enhanced secondary recovery such as water flooding, tertiary recovery, recovery through steam injection, or other types of well stimulation operations such as acidizing.

  This addition establishes regulatory authority for hydraulic fracturing and sets requirements for operators, like conducting water testing and disclosing chemicals used.

• 42 U.S.C. 300h

  ``(B) Excludes the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage.''. → `B) Excludes the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage.`.

  This change clarifies that the underground injection of natural gas for storage purposes is not considered underground injection under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Action History

1. January 10, 2019

   Introduced in House

2. January 10, 2019

   Introduced in House

3. January 10, 2019

   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 jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

4. January 10, 2019

   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 jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

5. January 25, 2019

   Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.

6. February 05, 2019

   Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.

Sponsors

• Darren Soto · Primary

Subjects