Honorable Senators and Representatives,

We, the undersigned, come to you as protectors of New Mexico’s land, water, and public health.

We write from varied perspectives—as environmental advocates, health professionals, Indigenous communities, farmers, and everyday New Mexicans who rely on clean water and healthy lands for our survival and well-being. Together, we share a deep concern about the proposed Strategic Water Supply Act (SWS), which endangers our health, threatens our limited fresh water, and puts the financial security of our state at risk.

This proposal, framed as a response to water scarcity, is in reality a $75 million publicly funded subsidy for the oil and gas industry’s waste disposal problem. It proposes to incentivize a treatment and reuse industry for fracking waste—a radioactive hazardous waste byproduct of oil and gas extraction—despite the lack of scientific evidence proving its safety.

Produced water treatment and reuse is not cost effective. If produced water treatment was cost effective, the oil and gas industry would already be doing it.

Below, we outline three critical areas where the Strategic Water Supply poses significant risks:

1.  Poisoning New Mexicans: A Threat to Public Health

Wastewater from the oil & gas industry, euphemistically referred to as “produced water,” can contain emulsified hydrocarbons, bacteria, and thousands of known and unknown toxic substances, including radioactive materials, heavy metals, and undisclosed proprietary chemicals. Treatment processes are insufficient and unreliable, and failures can lead to catastrophic health impacts.

• Health Risks: Produced water from the Permian Basin can be up to ten times saltier than seawater and contains thousands of toxic organic and inorganic compounds and heavy metals, including PFAS and, on average, 195 picocuries per liter of radium—three times the limit to qualify as liquid radioactive waste. Exposure to radium is linked to bone cancer and other severe health conditions.
  • In Pennsylvania, where treated fracking waste was discharged into rivers, studies found high levels of radium accumulating in downstream organisms, posing long-term risks to human health.
• Documented Failures: Across the country, attempts to reuse and discharge treated fracking waste have resulted in contamination and public health crises:
  • West Virginia: Fairmont Brine Processing’s plant was shut down after dumping radioactive waste near a school, causing ongoing community contamination.

○ Pennsylvania: Multiple Eureka Resources treatment facilities were shuttered due to high costs, pollution, and severe worker illness and death.

○ Wyoming: Waterways downstream of the Neptune reverse osmosis treatment facility, completed in 2015 and deemed inoperable by 2020, have become so polluted that they were recently deemed “incapable of supporting aquatic life.”

Those creeks feed into the drinking water reservoir for the town of Thermopolis.

Despite these documented failures, proponents of the Strategic Water Supply argue that treatment and reuse can be done safely. Yet even the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) admits that “the science regarding treatment of produced water is just not there yet.” To proceed without conclusive scientific evidence is to gamble with the health of New Mexicans.

2.  Poisoning Our Water: A Threat to Freshwater Resources

Water is life. In our arid state, every drop of fresh water is precious. The Strategic Water Supply poses an existential threat to New Mexico’s limited freshwater resources.

• High Risk of Contamination: The proposed reuse of produced water for industrial purposes risks accidental spills and discharges. Even in so-called “closed-loop” systems spills are inevitable. According to self-reported industry data, at least four spills occur daily during the transport of fracking waste within the oil field.

○ NMED acknowledged during the Wastewater Reuse hearing that “closed-loop projects” are “not necessarily non-discharge,” meaning that accidental releases into the environment are likely. (WQCC 23-84, 5/16/24, Fullam, at 77.) 

• Residual Waste: The Strategic Water Supply Act includes no detailed guidance on the jurisdiction or management of residual waste. The treatment process for both brackish water and fracking waste produces high volumes (at least 20% of the total treated volume) of a concentrated, salty brine which can contain salt, heavy metals, PFAS, radionuclides and other contaminants removed during treatment. Disposal of this waste presents its own set of risks, including likely contamination of New Mexico groundwater.
• Brackish Water Extraction Risks: NMED’s feasibility study noted that brackish water extraction “may lead to negative environmental impacts such as land surface subsidence, saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers, and decreased flow in rivers” as well as the residual waste mentioned above. And according to the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, deep brackish water aquifers, once depleted, often cannot be replenished due to permanent collapse in the aquifer pore spaces.
• Energy-Intensive Process: Treatment, if it can be accomplished, requires enormous energy inputs. The volumes envisioned by the Governor’s 50-Year Water Plan would demand energy equivalent to several large coal plants, undermining New Mexico’s climate goals. 

3.  Compromising Our Economic Security: A Public Liability

The Strategic Water Supply shifts financial risk from private companies to the public. This approach is not only fiscally irresponsible, but also poses long-term economic risks. 

• Unproven Economics: The history of failed fracking waste treatment plants across the nation should caution against any public investment in such ventures, and the complexities of treatment plant development make the goals of the SWS far-fetched. The largest brackish water desalination plant in the U.S., the Kay Bailey Hutchison plant in Texas, took six years to build and produces 30,800 acre-feet of water annually at a cost of $90 million to build and $19 million per year for waste disposal. Even if brackish water treatment plants could be sited and scaled up to accomplish the goals of the SWS, the feasibility of produced water treatment at that scale is far worse due to the additional complexity of removing radioactive and proprietary fracking chemical contaminants.

○ NMED’s feasibility study projects costs ranging from $200 million to over $700 million per project, with no guarantee of economic viability.

• Public Subsidies for Private Profit: The Strategic Water Supply proposes to use public funds to guarantee purchase agreements for treated fracking waste, ensuring profits for private companies while leaving taxpayers liable for stranded assets and environmental remediation if projects fail.
• Ambiguous Financial Protections: A discussion draft of the bill dated 12/3/2024 provides for financial assurances of unspecified type or quantity, and states that financial assurances “may be required” rather than “shall be required,” providing inadequate protection against potential liabilities. The oil and gas industry’s history of abandoning wells with inadequate financial assurances is well known.

A Real Solution: Invest in Proven Water Conservation Measures

Rather than investing $75 million in speculative and dangerous projects, we propose a more responsible path:

1. Fund the Implementation of Existing Laws: Direct resources toward fully implementing the 2023 Water Security Planning Act and the 2019 Water Data Act.
2. Impose a Produced Water Barrel Fee for Oil and Gas Industry Waste Remediation: Generate revenue by taxing the oil and gas industry for each barrel of produced water, and use these funds to plug abandoned wells and remediate existing environmental damage.
3. Prioritize Water Conservation: Invest in proven strategies to conserve and protect New Mexico’s freshwater resources, including watershed restoration, repairing aging infrastructure and modernizing water management systems.

Conclusion

The Strategic Water Supply Act is a false solution that endangers public health, threatens our precious water resources, and puts New Mexico taxpayers on the hook for billions in potential liabilities. We urge you to reject this proposal and instead invest in real, science-based solutions that protect our water and our future. More detailed evidence and analysis of the proposed bill is attached.

New Mexicans know that water is life. Without clean water, there is no future for our communities, our economy, or our way of life.

Respectfully Signed,

Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates, Norm Gaume, President

Environmental Justice Caucus of the DPNM, Alex Applegate, Executive Committee

San Juan Citizens Alliance, Mike Eisenfeld, Energy and Climate Program Manager

Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, Ennedith López, Policy Campaign Manager

The American Friends Service Committee, Patrick Jaramillo, Program Co-Director

Agri-Cultura Cooperative Network, Helga Garza, Executive Director

Southwest Native Cultures, Terry Sloan, Director

GreenLatinos, Carlos Matutes, NM Community Advocate

Center for Biological Diversity, Gail Evans, NM Climate Director

Food & Water Watch, Alexa Reynaud, Organizer

350 New Mexico, Thomas Solomon and Jim Mackenzie, Co-coordinators

WildEarth Guardians, Rebecca Sobel, Organizing Director

Indivisible Albuquerque, Rayellen Smith, President

Citizen Action New Mexico, Dave McCoy, Executive Director

Citizens for Fair Rates and the Environment, Tom Manning, Director

Common Ground Rising, Elaine Cimino, Director

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Joni Arends, Co-founder and Executive Director

El Valle De La Cieneguilla Land Grant Association, Joseph Villegas Sr., Resident

IndivisibleSOS-Santa Fe, Marti Burt and Ricann Bock, Co-chairs

Interfaith Worker Justice – New Mexico, Rev. Dr. Holly Beaumont, Organizing Director

Jemez Peacemakers, Rev. Glen Thamert, Co-ordinator

Rainbow Farms, Joshuaa D Allison-Burbank, Owner

Las Vegas (NM) Peace & Justice Center, Pat Leahan, Co-Director

Loam, Halley Strongwater, Founder

Los Alamos Study Group, Greg Mello, Executive Director

Los Jardines Institute, Sofia Martinez, Co-Director

Mountain View Neighborhood Association, Lauro Silva, Community Advocacy – Environmental Justice

NM Climate Justice , Anni Hanna, Director 

People & Planet Refill, PBC, Carolyn Wayland, Owner

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pennsylvania, Tonyehn Verkitus, Executive Director

Physicians for Social Responsibility, NM Chapter, Dr. Robert Bernstein, MD, President

Progressive Democrats of America – Central New Mexico, Lora Lucero, State Chapter Leader

Reboot Our Democracy, Rayellen Smith, President

Renewable Taos, Inc., Daniel Pritchard, Executive Board

Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens, William Clark, President

Rivers Run Through Us, Bobbe Besold, Co Director 

Sovereign Dine’ Nation, Mervyn Tilden, Founder

The Forest Advocate, Sarah Hyden, Director

Think Like a Bee, Anita Amstutz, Director

UNM Leaders for Environmental Action and Foresight, Feleecia Guillen, Director of Communication & Outreach

Valencia Water Watchers, Deirdra A Velasquez, Core member

Veterans for Peace, Duane Teschler, Volunteer

We are one river, Mark LeClaire, Organizer

Climate Change Leadership Institute, Robb Hirsch, Executive Director and Founder

Earthcare, Miguel Acosta, Co-Director

Honor Our Pueblo Existence, Marian Naranjo, Founder and Director

Indigenous Lifeways, Krystal Curley, Executive Director

McKinley Community Health Alliance, Anna Rondon, Member

New Energy Economy, Mariel Nanasi, Executive Director

NM Social Justice and Equity Institute, Anna Rondon, Executive Director

Three Sisters Collective, Dr. Cristina Castro, Founding Member

Water Protector Legal Collective, Natali Segovia, Executive Director and Senior Attorney

Tewa Women United, Nathana Bird, Interim Executive Director