OPINION: Oil industry pressure to reuse its toxic waste endangers New Mexico

Fossil fuel industry allies in New Mexico’s government claim it’s safe to reuse toxic waste from oil and gas production outside of the oilfield. They’re wrong and they’re gambling with our water and health.

The only thing we know for certain about this toxic, radioactive waste — which the industry likes to call “produced water” — is that research is “still lacking,” and more studies are needed to determine if it can be treated and reused safely.

That’s why in May, after an exhaustive 18-month rulemaking process, the Water Quality Control Commission voted to ban the reuse and dumping of oil and gas waste in our rivers and on our land, and to create a pilot program to study the issue further.

Now, before the ink on that rule dried — and without any new science to support a change — the oil industry strong-armed the commission into reversing course and opening the floodgates to reusing its waste.

The oil industry is proposing to spread their waste on our land, discharge it into our rivers and streams, and even use it to water non-food crops.

Making matters worse, the commission voted to move forward without the participation of the New Mexico Environment Department, normally a vital part of any rulemaking, whose scientists have testified that the safe discharge and reuse of oil and gas waste is not backed by science.

And Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is standing at the industry’s side. Having failed to pass her produced water agenda through the Legislature earlier this year, she is now putting pressure on the commission to allow the commodification of this industrial waste.

We have low expectations for the oil industry. It has, after all, a century-long history of covering up and denying the truly unprecedented harms it has caused — like global warming from greenhouse gas pollution and earthquakes from produced water injection. But we deserve better from our governor and the state agencies tasked with protecting us.

New Mexicans are making that clear. More than 150 people from across the state showed up to commission hearings to plead for protection for our water. Twenty-five legislators have called for this reckless plan to be rejected.

The commission did the right thing in May when it voted to protect New Mexicans and our waters from oil and gas waste. It should stand by that decision and stop letting industry call the shots.