The oil and gas industry and their allies in our state Government have thrown their full weight behind the effort to expand fracking waste reuse "demonstration and industrial projects" across New Mexico without adequate safeguards to protect our land, water and health. The hearing on the Wastewater Reuse rule will begin May 13th. We need every New Mexican to join us in standing up against them.
Join us Monday to rally against the rule. Sign and share our petition with everyone you know. Sign up to make public comment during the hearing. Can't show up?? Email your comments now!
We know that produced water reuse has been a long term goal of the oil and gas industry for years. Their efforts began with HB 546, the Produced Water Act of 2019, which laid the foundation for the current rulemaking by establishing pilot projects for reuse within the oil field. Now, with this rulemaking, they seek to expand on that effort by authorizing reuse demonstration and industrial projects across New Mexico.
Some proponents of the rule point out that the rule prohibits discharge of treated or untreated produced water to ground or surface water, but release of produced water is already illegal (even though it continues indiscriminately, going largely unpunished and unabated!)
The tradeoff being proposed - to authorize a vast expansion of the scope of produced water reuse experimentation outside the oil field without adequate standards or safeguards in place - is not worth the risk.
We know the end goal because it is already included in the rule under the definition of "reuse water" - that is "a treated wastewater originating from domestic, industrial, or produced water sources, that has undergone a level of treatment appropriate for an application such as agriculture, irrigation, potable water supplies, aquifer recharge, industrial processes, or environmental restoration."
Join us in saying Hell No! The Water Quality Control Commission should instead adopt a rule that prohibits discharge, disposal and reuse of produced water anywhere outside the oil field, without exception.
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