We have been fighting the good fight at the legislature and together we managed to get the reuse of fracking waste stripped out of HB 137, the Governor's Strategic Water Supply Act!
We are also working hard to get public due process protections added into that bill so that brackish water treatment projects funded through this Strategic Water Supply can be formally opposed at a hearing by local community members if they raise concerns about land surface subsidence, contamination of freshwater aquifers or reductions in surface water, all potential outcomes of poorly planned brackish water desalination plants. Right now HB 137 has been awaiting a vote on the House Floor for a number of days.
Unfortunately we are still facing the prospect of contamination of our water from fracking waste in a new bill, HB 311. This bill was proposed to make an end run around the current water protection regulatory structure by rebranding treated fracking waste as "reclaimed water" so that the treated waste can be used for any nonpotable purposes that new "Reclaimed Water Authorities" can dream of. This could include irrigation, aquifer recharge, fire suppression or industrial projects like hydrogen that could ultimately result in serious contamination of our water without Water Quality Control Commission oversight.
The bill creates these new authorities with boards populated primarily by industry insiders and transfers authority over water from the WQCC to these new authorities if it meets quality standards that do not yet exist. According to scientists, adequate standards cannot be established until fracking waste water is fully characterized, which has not yet been achieved. In other words, like the Strategic Water Supply, HB 311, the Reclaimed Water Act, attempts to put the cart before the horse and allow for fracking waste reuse before it has been proven safe!
HB 311 is currently awaiting a hearing in House Judiciary. You can write to the committee by using the button below to share with them why you oppose HB 311.
With all the focus on treating fracking waste and brackish water, funding for the common sense water data collection and planning initiates identified by NM Water Advocates remain underfunded years after bills were passed to priorities these important water security initiatives. We are calling Senate Finance to fully fund the following priorities because the Governor and the House Budgets fail to properly resource these real water security solutions:
Water Data Act Compliance Funding: $2.5 million
Build new real-time water use data collection and automated reporting application
Make water data publicly and internally available
Water Security Planning Act Implementation Funding: $2.4 million
$250,000 block grant to each planning region to self-organize and prepare work plan
Evidence-based local water projects & policies
Active Water Resource Management (AWRM) Funding: $2 million
Implements court-approved water allocation rules
Prevents a new SCOTUS lawsuit by Texas, which under this federal administration would be a particularly bad outcome
You can click on the button below to email Senate Finance and ask them to fully fund these important water priorities.
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