A measure backed by the New Mexico governor that would expand the uses of oil and gas wastewater beyond the oilfields failed to advance out of its first committee Feb. 7.
The nearly five-hour hearing before the House Acequias, Agriculture and Water Resources Committee culminated in a close, 5-4 vote to table House Bill (HB) 207. The vote fell mostly along party lines, with the exception of Rep. Susan Herra (D-Embudo) who sided with Republicans on the committee attempting to advance the bill.
HB 207 would require the state’s Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) to adopt rules and issue permits by the end of 2026 to enlarge available areas for the byproduct, known in the industry as produced water, oil and gas wastewater can be used.
Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad), the lead sponsor, told members the bill is required to address water scarcity, and that treatments have advanced for the salty and often toxic waste product from oil and gas drilling.
Brown said she wanted to ensure the state is not wasting the resource, saying “I believe it’s time to let the science bear fruit.”
It was not the science, but the politics over recent rulemaking that dominated the debate and questions from lawmakers in the hearing.
Tension over produced water rulemaking erupted last year after an oil-and-gas industry-aligned group, the Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance, successfully petitioned the water commission to rewrite adopted rules limiting produced water uses. Numerous environmental groups in turn called for the commission to overturn that decision and disqualify members who they alleged had been “compromised by interference” from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D). The commission ultimately overturned its controversial decision, while the governor’s office consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Rep. Angelica Rubio (D-Las Cruces) said she was concerned the state was allowing oil and gas to drive the conversation.
“It’s the insistence of an industry that has just so much power in this state and so much influence that we tend to prioritize their ideas over people’s lived realities—there is no balance there,” Rubio told the sponsors. “We need to find that balance because we can’t just trust that the regulation will catch up. We can’t assume that we can handle the damage later on and that in case something does go wrong.”
Other lawmakers noted that the rulemaking process, under the law’s deadline, would be condensed.
“I want the WQCC to go through this process and not be forced to have a rulemaking before we can get all the science in front of them,” said Chair Kristina Ortez (D-Taos) just before the vote.
Groups who opposed the expansion of water reuse rules celebrated the tabling.
“The commission determined the technology does not exist to treat this toxic waste to levels safe for people and the environment. HB207 would have forced a new produced water rule on an extremely rushed timeline about half that required for the previous rulemaking,” wrote Tannis Fox, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center, in a statement to Source NM. “That would have deprived the commission of the rigor needed to write a rule that would keep New Mexicans and our water resources safe.” — Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
