Protect NM water from fracking waste.

The oil and gas industry continue to use PFAS in drilling operations, and wants to gain authorization for reuse of their toxic, radioactive fracking waste for "agriculture, irrigation, potable water supplies, aquifer recharge, industrial processes or environmental restoration." We say NO!

Water is sacred. A gift from the earth to be cherished, not exploited.

OUR DEMANDS:

Don't poison our water. Protect it. Prohibit the discharge, reuse, and disposal of all produced water, treated or untreated, outside the oil field.
Hold industry accountable for its toxic waste problem. Designate hazardous waste from oil and gas production as hazardous waste.
Address the root cause of the toxic fracking waste problem. Begin the responsible phase-out of oil and gas production.

WHY IS FRACKING WASTE REUSE COMING UP NOW?

According to Laura Capper, oil and gas industry consultant, “New Mexico needs to find new uses [for produced water] quickly or risk oil production itself.” - Current Argus, July 12, 2023

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Oil and gas industry representatives and their allies in business and government are trying to scare New Mexicans by arguing that we need to reuse liquid fracking waste because climate change is going to reduce our water supply by 25%. (Ironic coming from them right!!?) But in fact New Mexico leaders have failed to authorize, fund or implement the water saving reforms and policies that an official New Mexico Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force recommended in 2022.

The real reason for the headlong rush to approve fracking waste reuse? Earthquakes resulting from injection of fracking waste underground. More than 2,404 quakes in 2022.

DANGERS OF
FRACKING WASTE

KNOWN TOXICITY AND
HARMS TO HUMAN HEALTH

Among numerous hazardous compounds, produced water can contain PFAS, bromide, arsenic, mercury, barium, radioactive isotopes and organic compounds like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes. Exposure to these toxic and radioactive substances has been correlated with increased risks of cancer, birth defects, and early death, and the evidence keeps coming. Read More >>

FRACKING WASTE = RADIOACTIVE WASTE

One of the most dangerous radionuclides found in “produced water” is radium, which mimics calcium in the body, causing it to be absorbed into our bones. A 2022 study showed that radium levels in fracking waste from the Permian range from around 800 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) to more than 1500 pCi/L. The EPA has a specific level of radium at which they define a liquid waste stream as “radioactive” waste - 60 pCi/L. Read More >>

UNKNOWN CONTENTS. UNKNOWN RISKS.

Oil and gas extraction operations bring to the surface 900 billion gallons of liquid waste every year. In a comprehensive literature review, researchers identified 1,198 chemicals as detected in oil and gas wastewater, of which 86 percent lack toxicity data sufficient to complete a risk assessment.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF PFAS IN OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS?

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?

The New Mexico Environment Department has proposed a Produced Water Reuse rule that is pending at the Water Quality Control Commission. We opposed the rule and we are waiting for a decision. Now we are organizing to oppose the Governor's "Strategic Water Supply" plan, HB 137, to use public funds to help launch a fracking waste reuse industry in New Mexico.

At the Oil Conservation Commission an application is pending to prohibit the use of PFAS in oil and gas operations and require disclosure of fracking chemicals to verify and enforce that prohibition. We supported the rule and we're waiting for a decision. In the meantime Senator Steinborn introducing a bill to give the prohibition the force of law.