THE PEOPLE SHOWED UP WITH POWER AND TRUTH - PUBLIC OUTCRY FELL ON DEAF & CORRUPT EARS

Photo by Anni Hanna

Yesterday the people showed up with power and truth to demand the Water Quality Control Commission put people over oil and gas profits, but Secretary Kenney was there to conduct a dog and pony show on behalf of the Governor and her campaign contributors, not a democratic regulatory decision making process, and the WQCC played their parts perfectly.

The Governor's appointee, NMED Secretary Kenney has never sat in as the NMED designee on the Commission until this WATR Alliance petition was put forward. He was there for one reason only - to do the oil and gas industry's bidding. Though Chair Thomson was nominally in charge of the meeting, Secretary Kenney continuously directed the deliberations towards the Governor's desired outcome - the Commission voted down a Motion for reconsideration, a Motion to dismiss the Petition outright, and a Motion requesting the formation of a diverse stakeholder advisory committee. At one point the Governor even sent down snacks for the Commissioners, who had to sit through so many hours of public comment without lunch before doing her bidding.Who are these Commissioners?

Five of the Commissioners who voted yesterday, including Kenney, were recent appointments by the Governor. 

With the exception of Commissioner Borunda, not one Commissioner had the guts to vote for our Motion to dismiss the petition outright. Instead the Commission voted to undermine its own unanimously adopted May 2025 rule, (WQCC 23-84), by allowing the WATR Alliance petition to move forward—opening the door for treated oil and gas waste, known as “produced water,” to be discharged into our environment without first adopting protective, scientifically based water quality standards.

Three hours of public testimony included over fifty impassioned speakers from environmental justice organizations, tribal youth and elders, acequia parciantes, faith groups, public health professionals, epidemiologists, doctors, farmers, teachers, parents, youth, and concerned residents from across the state. Senator Pope spoke on behalf of 25 legislators who oppose the WATR petition, and the New Mexico State Land Commissioner also spoke in opposition to the WATR Petition and the procedural redo. Dozens of speakers expressed outrage that the WATR Alliance is comprised of the very same industry interests that participated in WQCC 23-84, and have already challenged the rule on appeal. All of them were ignored.

The final public comment captured perfectly the farcical nature of the whole display:

Our opposition to the WATR Alliance petition was based on the simple fact that the law prohibits parties from repeatedly relitigating the same issues. Under regulatory law, an issue may be revisited only if there is new science or evidence upon which to base a new rulemaking. The Commissioners dismissed our arguments by hiding behind a WATR Alliance document showing the results of a Google search with new papers about produced water treatment that have been published in the past year. They did not examine that google search list to determine whether that new science was relevant, specific to the San Juan or Permian Basin, or rigorous to any degree.

When we held up the most recent peer reviewed study published in June from Dr. Pei Xu, the lead researcher at the NM Produced Water Research Consortium, which states “comprehensive studies assessing the impact of treated PW [produced water] exposure on human health are still lacking,” Chair Thomson dismissed that study as just one paper from one scientist against the WHOLE Google list. The lack of rigor would be shocking if it were not so predictable. As Center for Biological Diversity attorney Colin Cox noted in his statement, a Google search result is the kind of thing a middle school student might submit with their homework.

What we saw today wasn’t democracy — it was the Governor and industry insiders manipulating a public process to get the outcome they wanted. There is science and evidence behind the WQCC’s original rule. There is nothing but oil and gas dollars behind this fraudulent petition. We intend to seek further redress in the Courts.

PRESS ABOUT THE DECISION

Amid strong opposition, New Mexico water board lets plan for more oil and gas wastewater use proceed - Source NM

New Mexico water commission decides to hear new case on fracking wastewater reuse - Santa Fe New Mexican

THE NEW REASON WHY OIL AND GAS IS EVEN MORE DESPERATE TO DUMP THEIR WASTE ON NEW MEXICO?

and gas needs a resolution to their disposal problem because underground wastewater injection wells not only cause earthquakes and blowouts, but are now a direct threat to oil production in the nation's most prolific basin. 

As the linked article notes "Bloomberg reports that ConocoPhillips, one of the Permian’s largest producers, has joined the opposition [to proposed new injection wells], noting that in the area near the proposed wells it is producing less than 40% of expected oil volumes while generating nearly twice the forecast water output." 

That's too bad for them. Maybe they should use their billions to come up with a waste solution that doesn't involve poisoning the rest of us.