Bill Co-sponsor Rep. Joseph Sanchez, D-Alcalde

By NICHOLAS GILMORE
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Advocates for the reuse of so-called “produced water” — a group that includes the governor — have been handed a big loss with not much time left in the legislative session.

After more than four and a half hours of testimony and debate, a House committee voted 5-4 Saturday afternoon to table a bill that would set a quick timeline for new statewide regulations allowing the reuse and discharge of fracking wastewater, a byproduct of oil and gas extraction.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has for several years expressed support for allowing the use of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for industrial purposes, calling it “a critical tool for ensuring New Mexico’s long-term water security.” However, she has run into considerable opposition within her own party; all five votes to table Saturday came from Democrats.

Plans for establishing a treatment and reuse program in the state have faced pushback from environmental advocates who contend treatment processes for the waste are not currently protective of human health. A recent statement from the groups Amigos Bravos and Western Environmental Law Center called House Bill 207, which was tabled Saturday, “yet another attempt by Big Oil at an end-run around sound science and protecting public health and the environment.”

Republicans have sided with the Democratic governor on the topic; five of the nine sponsors of HB 207 are Republicans. Rep. Tanya Mirabel Moya, R-Los Lunas, said allowing the use of produced water could help with Meta’s plans to expand its data center in her district.

“If there’s a possibility that they could use produced water instead of fresh water then I’m all for that, because that saves our fresh water for Valencia County residents and farmers,” she said.

The debate is not over — several proposals have been introduced in the current session aimed at changing New Mexico’s regulations of the water.

But with just two weeks left in the session and with two proposals related to reuse of produced water having stalled in the House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee, advocates for the reuse of produced water are short on time.

‘Concerned about the politics’

HB 207 would require the state Water Quality Control Commission to put into effect new rules that allow for the reuse and discharge of treated water by the end of the year.

The Republicans on the House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee all backed the bill, as did Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, who said lawmakers need to listen to “science-based solutions” to address the state’s worsening water woes.

“There is no snow on the mountains,” she said.

But for Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, D-Mesilla, the state’s water shortage was an argument against the bill.

“We can’t afford to authorize new risks to our water supply before protections are in place,” she said.

Lara Cadena, who argued against the bill at length, was critical of the governor, who last year pushed the Water Quality Control Commission to reverse its May decision prohibiting the reuse or discharge of the wastewater except in limited pilot projects.

Lujan Grisham’s administration backed a push by the Water Access Treatment and Reuse Alliance — a group with ties to the oil and gas industry — to adopt new rules allowing for the reuse of fracking wastewater, directing agency department heads to replace several commissioners who had voted on the more restrictive rules in an effort to redo the rulemaking process.

Amid extensive public pushback, the commission voted in November to abandon the WATR Alliance’s rulemaking petition.

Lara Cadena said she was told, after she expressed concern publicly in a committee meeting, that the agency heads took the board seats “out of the care and concern for the well-being of their designees” due to how controversial the issue was.

“That explanation to me didn’t square with what we saw in the media, including emails from the governor’s close team directing them to just get the new rules done,” she said, referencing reporting last year by The New Mexican on emails from the Governor’s Office and the state Environment Department directing Cabinet heads to take their seats on the commission in order to advance the measure.

“I remain concerned about the politics coming from the fourth floor behind a project like this,” she said.

In a memo on HB 207, the Environment Department expressed concern about whether it would be able to meet the bill’s six-month timeline to adopt the rules. It notes a year is more typical for a complex rulemaking process; it took the commission 18 months to issue the current produced water rules.

The memo also states the department has “continued its discussions with WATR Alliance on draft rules and is evaluating how to proceed with such a rulemaking in 2026.”

‘False solution?’

Identical memorials have been filed in both the House and Senate seeking to recognize “the importance of produced water as an asset for economic development,” noting its potential for use in data centers.

“Why should we not use this abundant resource for the benefit of New Mexicans?” Rep. Joseph Sanchez, D-Alcalde, who is also a co-sponsor of HB 207, said at a committee hearing Thursday on a memorial he sponsored.

“Most produced water is either reinjected underground or sent to Texas,” Sanchez said. “Texas is not paying for this water, and we are getting no credit on the river compacts with an average of five barrels of water produced for every barrel of oil. That’s a lot of water New Mexico is giving away to Texas.” 

Sanchez’s memorial was tabled due to lawmakers’ unanswered questions about a yet-to-be-filed petition from a Taos County resident “for a rule allowing for the reuse of treated produced water for industrial uses and delivery to Texas.”

Many environmental and conservation advocates remain staunchly opposed to the reuse or discharge of fracking wastewater. In a statement, Western Environmental Law Center attorney Tannis Fox called it a “false solution” to the state’s water scarcity crisis.

“Protection of human health and the environment must be based on sound science, not profit-driven industry spin,” Fox stated. “The best science tells us the technology to effectively treat oil and gas wastewater at scale does not exist.”

Assistant City Editor Nathan Brown contributed to this story.