Water-related legislation introduced in Congress this month includes the latest version of a measure to require oil and gas companies to disclose chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing operations and a proposal to create a wide-ranging infrastructure bank to fund a variety of infrastructure projects.
Sponsored by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.), the “Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act” (S. 1135) is based on legislation he has introduced in the past, and matches a bill offered in the House of Representatives in May by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). The bill would reverse a provision tucked into a 2005 energy bill that exempts hydraulic fracturing operators from Safe Drinking Water Act underground injection rules, and would require drillers to reveal the ingredients of the mixture blasted underground to loosen up oil and gas trapped in shale formations. But the measure has never gained traction in the past, as opponents have argued that the bill would infringe on states’ authority to regulate drilling operations. Bill opponents also say that many states have developed their own disclosure rules, making federal standards redundant.
Also unlikely to advance through Congress is the “Partnership to Build America Act” (H.R. 2084), a bill from Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) that would establish a $50 billion national infrastructure bank to fund investments in transportation, energy, communications, and water infrastructure. While the bill is similar to initiatives championed by President Obama in the past, the idea has not caught on with congressional Republicans, and even the President has appeared reluctant to devote significant energy toward advancing the proposal.
For its part, AMWA prefers a more targeted, water-specific infrastructure assistance program to a wide-ranging infrastructure bank. Under a broad bank, it is feared, water systems would be at a disadvantage when competing for funding against more visible transportation-sector projects.