Have you noticed the uptick and audacity of fear-mongering ads from the oil and gas industry blanketing the airwaves lately? They are running scared because the dog finally caught the car - the destructive impacts of their own industry are becoming so obvious and imminent that some in the New Mexico legislature are finally trying to take some real action. This doesn't mean that oil and gas influence at the Roundhouse has waned - nearly every Democrat is still taking oil and gas money - but at least this year we are spending more time trying to support all the good legislation than fighting back against false solutions.
That means we need you to step up, because oil and gas is going on offense and they have bottomless pockets. Can you take two minutes? Five minutes? Can you show up on zoom, or even better, in person? NMOGA is hoping to swamp legislators with calls and letters in support of their profits. We need everyone to step up and make clear that the people, their constituents, care about climate change more than oil and gas revenues.
Does it work? Yes, it does. Yesterday HB 311, the bill to remove recycled fracking waste from oversight by the Water Quality Control Commission was pulled from the table after the public spoke up loud and clear and it became obvious that the Sponsor, Rep. Nathan Small, did not have the votes.
IMPACTFUL CLIMATE BILLS ON THE DOCKET TOMORROW, SATURDAY.ARE YOU FREE?
SB 178, THE PRODUCED WATER REUSE PROHIBITION AND ABANDONED WELLS FUND ACT
SB 178 got rolled to tomorrow, Saturday, because the sponsor expected a lengthy debate. It will be heard tomorrow morning at 9:00AM in Senate Conservation. To make Public Comment come in person to Room 311 or join on zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82404382748. Sponsored by Senator Harold Pope Jr, SB 178 comports with science to protect our health by:
prohibiting fracking waste reuse outside the oilfield, with the exception of research conducted in accredited laboratories, and
assessing a fee per barrel of Produced Water to plug abandoned wells, a small price to begin addressing the significant costs that New Mexico is already paying to deal with the oil and gas industry's toxic waste.
The oil and gas industry is using New Mexico like its personal landfill, dumping more than one billion barrels of toxic liquid fracking waste underground each year, threatening aquifer contamination and earthquakes, and spilling indiscriminately and without penalty along the way, trucking tons of radioactive drill cuttings, sludge and contaminated trash to landfills across the state and abandoning thousands of leaking wells for the public to clean up at a cost of more than $8 billion dollars, wreaking havoc on our land, air, water and climate.
SB 178 is the antidote to the Strategic Water Supply, a small step towards accountability, demanding that polluters, not the public, pay to cleanup their toxic mess. Read the one pager here.
HB 222, THE FRACTURING FLUID DISCLOSURE AND USE ACT TO PROHIBIT PFAS AND REQUIRE CHEMICAL DISCLOSURE IN OIL AND GAS DOWNHOLE OPERATIONS
This bill would codify the rule under consideration at the Oil Conservation Commission to prohibit the use of PFAS (per and poly-fluoroalkyl "forever" chemicals) in oil and gas downhole operations, and require operators to disclose all chemicals used in downhole operations to ensure oversight and enforcement.
PFAS have been proven to severely impact human health even at minute levels. One tablespoon of two of these chemicals - PFOS and PFOA - is enough to contaminate the entire Elephant Butte Reservoir beyond federal drinking water standards. And the risks of health impacts are severe, causing cancer, birth defects, endocrine disorders, immune suppression and obesity, among many other risks.
Unlike other industries in New Mexico, oil & gas companies do not disclose all chemical additives making it impossible to track all contaminants they are injecting into our land and water. Between 2013-2022, industry injected over 240 million pounds of trade secret chemicals in NM. Though the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association (NMOGA) asserts companies have moved away from PFAS use in hydraulic fracturing operations, the November hearings before the Oil Conservation Commission revealed that no company can verify this assertion, let alone all companies. There is no law to prevent oil and gas companies from using PFAS in the future.
Read the one pager here.
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