WQCC ignores the people and votes to allow a new hearing on fracking waste discharge without any evidence to support their vote

Yesterday, the people of New Mexico showed up in force—speaking truth and demanding that the Water Quality Control Commission put public health above oil and gas profits. But instead of a fair, democratic process, Secretary James Kenney staged a performance on behalf of the Governor and her campaign contributors, and the WQCC fell in line.

Kenney, the Governor’s appointee to lead the New Mexico Environment Department, had never before served as NMED’s designee on the Commission—until now. His sudden appearance made clear that he was there for one purpose only: to deliver the industry’s agenda. Though Chair Thomson presided in name, Kenney repeatedly steered the deliberations toward the Governor’s desired outcome. The Commission rejected every motion brought forward: to reconsider its July vote, to dismiss the WATR Alliance petition outright, and even to require a diverse stakeholder advisory committee.

Who are these Commissioners? Five of the members who voted—including Kenney—are recent gubernatorial appointees. Except for Commissioner Borunda, none had the courage to support dismissing the petition outright. Instead, they voted to undermine their own unanimously adopted May 2025 rule (WQCC 23-84) by advancing the WATR Alliance’s petition—reopening the door to discharging toxic “produced water” without first setting protective, science-based water quality standards.

The public was not silent. Over three hours, more than fifty speakers—including tribal elders and youth, acequia parciantes, faith leaders, doctors, public health professionals, farmers, educators, and parents—testified against the petition. Senator Pope spoke on behalf of 25 legislators opposing WATR’s push, and the State Land Commissioner joined in denouncing the redo. Nearly every speaker condemned the WATR Alliance for being a thinly disguised extension of the same oil and gas interests that participated in—and already appealed—the 23-84 case. All were ignored.

Our legal opposition is straightforward: the law bars parties from relitigating the same issues without new, relevant scientific evidence. Yet Commissioners waved this aside, relying on nothing more than a WATR Alliance Google search of papers about produced water published in the last year. They never evaluated whether those studies were relevant to New Mexico, peer-reviewed, or scientifically rigorous.

When we presented the most recent peer-reviewed study by Dr. Pei Xu—lead researcher for the NM Produced Water Research Consortium—concluding that “comprehensive studies assessing the impact of treated PW exposure on human health are still lacking,” Chair Thomson dismissed it as “just one paper” against the Google list. As the Center for Biological Diversity’s attorney Colin Cox pointed out, a Google search as evidence is the sort of thing a middle schooler might submit as homework.

What we witnessed was not democracy. It was the Governor and industry allies manipulating a public process to secure their outcome. The Commission’s original rule was grounded in science and law. This new petition is grounded only in oil and gas dollars. We will continue to seek justice in the courts.

Why is industry so desperate to dump waste on New Mexico?Because their old disposal method—underground injection wells—has become a liability. These wells cause earthquakes, blowouts, and now directly threaten oil production itself. As Bloomberg reported, ConocoPhillips—one of the Permian’s largest producers—opposed new injection wells after its nearby operations delivered less than 40% of expected oil production while producing nearly twice the forecast water output.

That’s their problem, not ours. If oil and gas companies want to solve their waste crisis, they should use their billions to develop solutions that don’t poison New Mexico’s people, land, and water.