Energy Watchdog: Despite Amendment, Water Bill Leaves Door Open for “Treated” Fracking Water to Recharge Aquifers
Claims that reuse will only be authorized for “closed loop” projects, ignore NMED testimony that “closed loop does not necessarily mean no discharge.”
Organization Press Release – From New Energy Economy
A committee substitute amendment for the Governor’s Strategic Water Supply bill, while addressing some dangers to water supply, leaves door open for so-called treated fracking water to be used to recharge aquifers.
Strategic Water Supply Act the bill number is HB 137 will be heard in House Ag, Room 315.
Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87536227091
In other important news, an amended version of the bill will be introduced as Committee Sub tomorrow. This version has some good changes – it bans the use of PFAS contaminated water in any strategic water supply program contract, requires the disclosure of all chemical constituents used in any prior hydraulic fracturing or other downhole operation of the source well, and most importantly, bans the use of treated produced water for drinking water or agricultural activities, including crop growing and livestock watering.
These changes make this bill better, but it is still, as they say, lipstick on a pig because:
- It still allows reuse of “treated” produced water, but treatment is not defined; while the bill requires that a strategic water supply project comply with all state, tribal, and local government standards, no scientific standards for treatment or water quality have been developed that protect human health and the environment. NMED’s proposed produced water rule pending at the Water Quality Control Commission (“WQCC”) does not require a permit for produced water reuse and does not contain any scientific standards.
- It still allows reuse of “treated” produced water for “aquifer recharge, industrial processes, or environmental restoration,” which is an exact quote from the NMED produced water reuse rule.
- It still includes no detailed guidance on the jurisdiction or management of significant volumes of residual hazardous waste from proposed treatment plants, neither does it address the enormous energy requirements of these treatment plants, which will result in increased climate changing emissions.
- The Strategic Water Supply Act is still not a serious solution to the issues of water scarcity. There are much more important investments that need to be made to improve water security in New Mexico, and a $75 million annual investment of public money to solve the disposal problem of a private industry is a waste of resources better spent elsewhere.
As Republican Senator Larry Scott acknowledged (at minute 10:08:45) at a recent Senate Conservation committee hearing “At least in the Southeast part of the state (Permian Basin) there’s way too much salt in that (waste)water today to even consider the economics of getting that cleaned up[.]”
Here are some facts you may find helpful
The bill calls for projects that comply with Water Quality Control Commission standards that do not yet exist. These standards don’t exist because scientists have testified that they do not yet have the data to define safe treatment protocols and water quality standards for reuse.
The bill authors claim that recycled produced water wont be used for agriculture, but the proposed rule at NMED defined reuse water as water treated for “agriculture, irrigation, potable water supplies, aquifer recharge, industrial processes, or environmental restoration.” (The Committee Sub narrows this somewhat.) Proponents also claim that reuse will only be authorized for “closed loop” projects, but NMED testified that “closed loop does not necessarily mean no discharge.” Until these issues are resolved New Mexico should not provide a private industry with a $75 million per year subsidy to recycle oil and gas waste!
Other states that have authorized treatment and reuse projects have faced significant radioactive contamination, hundreds of millions in financial losses from failed treatment facilities corroded beyond repair by the saline waste, illness and death of treatment plant workers and irreversible contamination of their water from improperly treated waste. These disasters have taken place in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. New Mexico does not need more radioactive contamination!
The bill ignores the enormous and potentially extremely expensive issue of disposal necessary for the hazardous residual waste stream produced when you separate dissolved salts, hydrocarbons, heavy metals and toxic fracking fluids from brackish water and fracking waste during treatment. Where will this waste get dumped and who will be responsible?
NEW MEXICO IS NOT SACRIFICE ZONE! PROTECT OUR HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT!
The Strategic Water Supply Act (SWS) endangers our health and our clean water sources, and fails to provide a meaningful solution to the very real water scarcity problem that New Mexico faces. Don’t gamble with our water!
Together we have defeated the Governor’s previous iterations of the legislation in two prior years (2023 proposal for $500 million and 2024 proposal for $250 million).
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