When the legislative session ended in 2019, House Speaker Brian Egolf said, “The produced water bill, I think, is going to go down as one of the greatest environmental accomplishments to come out of the state Legislature of New Mexico. Just the quantity of fresh, potable water that’s going to be saved for agricultural and municipal use is breathtaking.”
Five years later, we see the law’s first proposed rule.
The oil industry does pull a breathtaking amount of water out of the ground, along with the desired oil – five to seven barrels of water for every barrel of oil. In 2021 that was more than 60 billion gallons, which the industry could treat and reuse for its own activities or inject into disposal wells. Most is injected, but what if, in this dry state, it could be treated and used for other needs?
House Bill 546 in 2019 took a big step in that direction. First, it expanded oversight by making the Water Quality Control Commission regulator of produced water. Second, it assigned enforcement to the state Environment Department. Third, it gave owners or operators of oil or gas wells the right to recycle or treat and sell or dispose produced water.
The bill was intended to resolve confusion and legal obstacles to the reuse and recycling of produced water. And it opened the door to using treated water for, say, certain agricultural applications or golf courses.
The governor, the oil and gas industry and business groups supported the bill.
Reactions from environmental groups were mixed. Some liked the idea that the Environment Department rather than the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department would be the enforcer and that the Oil Conservation Division could levy fines for violations. Others didn’t trust the state to regulate produced water and were skeptical that the wastewater could be effectively cleaned. They worried that chemical contaminants could seep into fresh water.
Pros and cons surfaced again recently, as the Water Quality Control Commission held hearings on the proposed rule. At this writing we don’t know the results, but the two sides clashed before hearings began.
Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, argued that the proposed rule “fails to include scientific standards.” In an op ed, she accuses the governor and the Environment Department of fast tracking “their strategic water supply scheme to spend $500 million of public money to help the oil and gas industry solve their waste problem.”
This refers to the governor’s proposal to buy treated produced water in order to create a market and encourage private enterprise to build treatment facilities.
Nanasi warned, “Every New Mexican should be outraged by this brazen attempt to offload the oil and gas industry’s toxic waste into our lands, waters and our bodies.”
The Environment Department’s deputy secretary, Sydney Lienemann, shot back, “Let me be very clear: This rule does not allow produced water, treated or otherwise, to be released into our rivers, lakes or groundwater.” He chided unnamed groups for “misinformation and fear mongering.”
Lienemann explained that the draft rules include “safeguards to test and develop new treatments for produced water” and “encourage closed-loop use of treated, produced water for purposes such as solar manufacturing or renewable hydrogen generation, as long as not a drop of that produced water is released to the ground.”
Contrary to Nanasi’s claims, there’s plenty of science in the proposed rules.
John Rhoderick, director of the state Water Protection Division, told the Albuquerque Journal that technology exists to treat this water. “The issue becomes socializing the concepts so that it becomes acceptable to humans.”
He means: Joe and Jane Consumer, let me take you for a spin in my horseless carriage.
We can refuse the ride, or we can trust technology and roll into the future.
Step Into the Future With Produced Water
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When the legislative session ended in 2019, House Speaker Brian Egolf said, “The produced water bill, I think, is going to go down as one of the greatest environmental accomplishments to come out of the state Legislature of New Mexico. Just the quantity of fresh, potable water that’s going to be saved for agricultural and municipal use is breathtaking.”
Five years later, we see the law’s first proposed rule.
The oil industry does pull a breathtaking amount of water out of the ground, along with the desired oil – five to seven barrels of water for every barrel of oil. In 2021 that was more than 60 billion gallons, which the industry could treat and reuse for its own activities or inject into disposal wells. Most is injected, but what if, in this dry state, it could be treated and used for other needs?
House Bill 546 in 2019 took a big step in that direction. First, it expanded oversight by making the Water Quality Control Commission regulator of produced water. Second, it assigned enforcement to the state Environment Department. Third, it gave owners or operators of oil or gas wells the right to recycle or treat and sell or dispose produced water.
The bill was intended to resolve confusion and legal obstacles to the reuse and recycling of produced water. And it opened the door to using treated water for, say, certain agricultural applications or golf courses.
The governor, the oil and gas industry and business groups supported the bill.
Reactions from environmental groups were mixed. Some liked the idea that the Environment Department rather than the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department would be the enforcer and that the Oil Conservation Division could levy fines for violations. Others didn’t trust the state to regulate produced water and were skeptical that the wastewater could be effectively cleaned. They worried that chemical contaminants could seep into fresh water.
Pros and cons surfaced again recently, as the Water Quality Control Commission held hearings on the proposed rule. At this writing we don’t know the results, but the two sides clashed before hearings began.
Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, argued that the proposed rule “fails to include scientific standards.” In an op ed, she accuses the governor and the Environment Department of fast tracking “their strategic water supply scheme to spend $500 million of public money to help the oil and gas industry solve their waste problem.”
This refers to the governor’s proposal to buy treated produced water in order to create a market and encourage private enterprise to build treatment facilities.
Nanasi warned, “Every New Mexican should be outraged by this brazen attempt to offload the oil and gas industry’s toxic waste into our lands, waters and our bodies.”
The Environment Department’s deputy secretary, Sydney Lienemann, shot back, “Let me be very clear: This rule does not allow produced water, treated or otherwise, to be released into our rivers, lakes or groundwater.” He chided unnamed groups for “misinformation and fear mongering.”
Lienemann explained that the draft rules include “safeguards to test and develop new treatments for produced water” and “encourage closed-loop use of treated, produced water for purposes such as solar manufacturing or renewable hydrogen generation, as long as not a drop of that produced water is released to the ground.”
Contrary to Nanasi’s claims, there’s plenty of science in the proposed rules.
John Rhoderick, director of the state Water Protection Division, told the Albuquerque Journal that technology exists to treat this water. “The issue becomes socializing the concepts so that it becomes acceptable to humans.”
He means: Joe and Jane Consumer, let me take you for a spin in my horseless carriage.
We can refuse the ride, or we can trust technology and roll into the future.