Oil and Water Don’t Mix Act of 2020
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
Oil and Water Don't Mix Act of 2020
This bill establishes requirements governing oil or gas operations, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.
Specifically, the bill eliminates certain exemptions for oil or gas operations from environmental requirements, including requirements concerning drinking water, stormwater runoff, hazardous air pollutants, and solid waste disposal. The bill also revises drinking water requirements to require fracking operations to disclose the chemicals they use in underground injections.
The bill sets forth requirements to protect the quality and quantity of surface or ground water systems, including by requiring oil or gas operations to replace certain water supplies that have been affected by the production of oil or gas.
In addition, the bill requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to issue regulations governing the use of fracking under oil and gas leases for federal lands. Until the BLM issues those regulations, the bill reestablishes the requirements of the repealed rule titled Oil and Gas; Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Land .
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must issue a rule that adds hydrogen sulfide to the list of hazardous air pollutants. The EPA must also publish a list of categories and subcategories of major sources and area sources of hydrogen sulfide, including oil and gas wells.
Finally, the bill requires the EPA to issue regulations for solid waste associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy if the EPA determines that the waste is hazardous.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 5, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 17, 2020: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced it on March 5, 2020, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 4 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 5, 2020, 2380 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2368 days ago, on March 17, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers