[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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