Water management

New Mexico Finalizes Oil and Gas Wastewater Regulations, Lawmakers Hear Testimony

The state of New Mexico finalized changes to its produced-water regulations on the oil and gas industry after months of adjustments and debate between state regulators, environmentalists, and oil and gas industry leaders.

spill.jpg
Workers with WPX Energy mediate a pipeline spill on 21 January in southern Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Credit: Adrian Hedden/Carlsbad Current-Argus.

The state of New Mexico finalized changes to its produced-water regulations on the oil and gas industry after months of adjustments and debate between state regulators, environmentalists, and oil and gas industry leaders.

The Oil Conservation Commission unanimously approved of the changes during a special meeting without discussion following a work session that included 2 days of testimony from environmental groups and industry leaders.

The new rules sought to clarify the Oil Conservation Division’s (OCD) role in regulating the management of produced water within the industry while the New Mexico Environment Department would oversee any future uses of the water outside of the industry in sectors such as agriculture. The OCD is an arm of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department.

Recent efforts by the state of New Mexico to research ways to treat produced water to standards that could potentially meet requirements for non-oil-and-gas uses such as agriculture were met with criticism from environmental groups who said the water should be treated as waste and would never be safe for reuse outside of oil and gas.

During a hearing before the New Mexico Legislature’s Water and Natural Resources Committee, Daniel Timmons, attorney with the WildEarth Guardians argued in written testimony that the approved regulations lacked an understanding of ingredients of produced water and called for the state to study the fluid further before drafting regulations.

“What we know about produced water is scary enough, but even more troubling is what we don’t know,” Timmons said. “Because the toxicity of the vast majority of chemicals detected in produced water has simply never been studied.”

Read the full story here.