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By John Fleck
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Sunday, 18 January 2009 08:29 |
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It looks like the key players in Santa Fe have agreed to an approach to regulating deep saline aquifers that has a chance at making it through the New Mexico legislature this year.
State Engineer John D'Antonio last week shared the final language for a bill that would give his office regulatory authority over deep aquifers (2,500 feet down or more) that contain brackish water. Developers and governments west of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho have filed claims for an enormous amount of groundwater, but there have been concerns about a loophole in state law that leaves the water unregulated, making it unclear how to manage the sustainable development of the resource, and how ensure that the pumping doesn't impair the water rights of others.D'Antonio's bill would essentially exempt everyone from regulation except municipal users. The main goal, he told me in an interview Friday, is to avoid snaring oil and gas drillers, who bring up water as a byproduct. D'Antonio doesn't want authority over that water, and the industry doesn't want him to mess with them, which has been the major political stumbling block to getting this passed in previous years. Bob Gallagher of the NM Oil and Gas Association told me he supports the bill as it's now written, which in political terms gives this a much better chance of passage. Lots of past coverage of this issue in the Journal:
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 January 2009 08:48 )
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