OPINION: New Mexico is an environmental stewardship leader

A recent op-ed suggested that New Mexico is no climate champion, but I believe the truth to be just the opposite.

New Mexico’s national laboratories and universities have been conducting research to improve both energy and natural resource sustainability since the early 1970s. The research has allowed the U.S. to accelerate the use of low emissions and low water-use wind and solar energy technologies, which when coupled with a transition from coal to lower emission and lower water-use and combined-cycle natural gas systems, give the U.S. the ability to enhance both air and water stewardship, while still providing high reliability electric power.

Both the World Economic Forum and the World Energy Council have endorsed this approach that supports both energy and environmental sustainability and reliability. The U.S. CO2 emissions per GDP are currently seven times lower than Russia, four times lower than India, three times lower than China and two times lower than Japan and Germany. Our emissions per GDP are comparable with England, Italy and France, industrial countries recognized as leaders in climate improvement.

Water research efforts led by the national laboratories and universities in New Mexico since 2000 have made U.S. water agencies acknowledge that most states are on a trajectory to experience regional or statewide water fresh supply shortages this decade. To address these concerns, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established the National Water Reuse Action Plan in 2020 to encourage states to adopt criteria for the safe fit-for-purpose treatment and reuse of waste waters in five major categories, including industrial, municipal, agricultural, oil and gas produced water and storm water.

With the passage of 2019 New Mexico Produced Water Act, New Mexico has taken a national leadership role in produced water treatment and reuse — requiring the elimination of fresh water use in oil and gas and encouraging the recycling and safe treatment and reuse of produced water. This act, along with the 2025 Strategic Water Supply Act, are efforts by New Mexico legislators to improve overall water stewardship because New Mexico ranks 49th in fresh water availability. In the future, desalination and waste water recycling and reuse will become an important water resources stewardship effort as we try and jointly manage water sustainability and economic growth.

Because of the Produced Water Act, the New Mexico Environment Department has teamed with New Mexico State University and other academic institutions to support brackish and produced water treatment research and reuse safety. New Mexico is currently working closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, and coordinating collaboration with more than 11 states, including New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Arizona and California, and industry, on risk and toxicology safety evaluations of treated produced water. Based on the data being jointly collected through the collaboration, the EPA recently announced they plan to issue new national guidelines for treating and reusing produced water in 2026.

This highlights how New Mexico’s state agencies, industry members, academia and national laboratories have and continue to work together to drive the stewardship of our state’s natural — land, water, air and energy — resources, to enhance human and environmental health, safety and sustainability.

Stewardship is a verb, and requires all of us to take actions to improve the sustainability of all our resources — natural, human and economic — for the benefit of future generations of New Mexicans. New Mexico, keep up the good work.