Talking points: Motion to Disqualify Vote on Industry-Written Oil and Gas Wastewater Rule

These comments refer to the petition for a new rule WQCC 25-34 in the matter of the Reuse of Treated Produced Water (“Industry-Written Oil and Gas Wastewater Rule”). WATR Alliance filed a petition for a new rule before the current rule (“NMED Oil and Gas Wastewater Rule”) even took effect. These talking points are specifically for the 11/13 WQCC meeting to consider our motion to disqualify commission votes based on improper political pressure and
.

• The Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) just spent 18 months deliberating whether oil and gas  wastewater – commonly referred to as “produced water” – can be discharged safely to surface and ground water. The WQCC considered thousands of pages of evidence from scientific and engineering experts brought forth by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and nonprofit organizations showing the technology to treat oil and gas wastewater at scale to levels safe for human and environmental exposure does not exist. The WQCC agreed and passed a rule in May of this year prohibiting the discharge of treated and untreated produced water to New Mexico surface and ground waters.
• The law says the WQCC is supposed to be an independent regulatory body that hears evidence and must protect human health and the environment. These proceedings are now prejudiced, tainted by the governor’s office’s orders to agency heads who serve at her pleasure.  Commissioners are supposed to be able to hear evidence and make independent decisions. All executive branch appointees should recuse themselves in this matter, and the vote to hear the new, industry-written rule should be invalidated. This industry petition should go no further.
• Water Access Treatment & Reuse Alliance (WATR Alliance), with a board composed of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, OXY, and other oil and gas industry insiders, petitioned in June for a new rule that would overturn the rule prohibiting the discharge of oil and gas wastewater before it had even taken effect. WATR Alliance is proposing to allow the discharge of oil and gas wastewater to New Mexico ground and surface waters–weeks after the Commission found discharge is not safe.
• An article in The New Mexican revealed the governor’s office directed seven WQCC members, appointees of the governor, to vote to get the WATR Alliance’s industry-backed petition “over the finish line.”  The following day, representatives from these agencies voted to hear the petition, as they were told to do by their boss. A later article from Source NM details the political pressure.