I
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1460
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 19, 2015
Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Ms. Bass, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Chu of California, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Cummings, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Farr, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Honda, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Meng, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Norton, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Sires, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Yarmuth, and Mrs. Davis of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study with respect to stormwater runoff from oil and gas operations, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Focused Reduction of Effluence and Stormwater runoff through Hydrofracking Environmental Regulation Act of 2015
or the FRESHER Act of 2015
.
Stormwater runoff from oil, gas, and mining operations
Limitation on permit requirement
Section 402(l) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by striking paragraph (2) and redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2).
Definitions
Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended—
by striking paragraph (24); and
by redesignating paragraphs (25) and (26) as paragraphs (24) and (25), respectively.
Study
In general
The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a study of stormwater impacts with respect to any area that the Secretary determines may be contaminated by stormwater runoff associated with oil or gas operations, which shall include—
an analysis of measurable contamination in such area;
an analysis of ground water resources in such area; and
an analysis of the susceptibility of aquifers in such area to contamination from stormwater runoff associated with such operations.
Report
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the results of studies conducted under paragraph (1).