More Water and More Energy Act of 2006

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Guam for yielding me time, and I thank her for her service to the House.

Mr. Speaker, obviously I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 5110, and I want to begin by thanking Chairman Pombo and Ranking Member Rahall, as well as subcommittee Chairs Radanovich and Gibbons and Ranking Members Napolitano and Grijalva, for making it possible for the House to consider this today.

As we have heard, the bill's purpose is to help change an industry problem that is in the energy industry into an opportunity, not just for oil and gas producers, but for everyone else who would benefit from increased supplies of usable water. Especially in the arid West, that covers everyone, not least our hard-pressed ranchers and farmers.

The focus of the bill is what is called produced water, the underground water extracted in connection with development of energy sources like oil, natural gas or coalbed methane.

The bill would do two things, Mr. Speaker. It would first direct Reclamation and the USGS to identify the obstacles to the greater use of produced water and how they could be reduced or eliminated. Second, it would provide for Federal help in building three pilot plants to demonstrate ways to treat produced water to make it suitable for irrigation or other uses.

One of these pilot plants would be in the Colorado River's upper basin, one would be in either Arizona or Nevada, and the third one would be in California. Under the bill, the Federal Government would pay up to half the cost of building each plant, but no more than $1 million for any one plant, and then no Federal funds could be used for operating the plants themselves.

The bill's goals are reflected in its title, which is the More Water and More Energy Act of 2006. More water because of the way it would help supplement the water available for agriculture, municipal or other uses, and more energy because keeping produced water on the surface instead of reinjecting it into the ground can make it possible to recover more oil and gas from the subsurface. These are two goals I think we all can share, and this bill helps us achieve it.

I would urge its support. I want to thank again in closing Congressman Radanovich and my good friend from Guam for acknowledging this bill today and yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Ms. BORDALLO asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, this legislation, introduced by my colleague on the Resources Committee, Mr. Mark Udall, presents an exciting opportunity to solve critical water problems in locations with producing oil and gas wells.

Water is almost always brought to the surface along with oil and gas production, and most of the time the water is a very poor quality. For the oil and gas industry, this water is usually a waste product, something to be disposed of.

Mr. Udall has recognized this problem of so-called produced water as a unique opportunity to solve critical water problems, and, as my colleagues are aware, this is especially important in the arid western States. This legislation will authorize a study and a limited number of demonstration projects to validate the concept that contaminated water produced from oil and gas wells can in fact be treated and put to beneficial use.

We are appreciative of the hard work Mr. Udall has done to move this legislation through the Resources Committee.

Mr. Speaker, we strongly support the adoption of H.R. 5110.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall).

(Mr. UDALL of Colorado asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time. Again I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Udall, who is a water expert who has done a great deal of work on this particular piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5110) to facilitate the use for irrigation and other purposes of water produced in connection with development of energy resources, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 5110, sponsored by our colleague from Colorado, Mark Udall, authorizes the Department of the Interior to fund projects for the potential use of extracted water for irrigation and other purposes. It will not surprise anybody that water is scarce in the West, but it may surprise some that a potential source of good quality water is just beneath the land surface and is being wasted every day.

During the process of energy development, about 22 million barrels of water are extracted each year, with most of that water pumped back underground. This legislation will facilitate the use of this abundant water for irrigation and other beneficial purposes. It could potentially help us find new water from what is now a virtually untapped water resource.

I thank the gentleman from Colorado for introducing this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.