Oil and gas producers in New Mexico will no longer be allowed to dump fracking wastewater into the state’s waterways and groundwater and it wasn’t well received by one oil and gas organization.
The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission decided this week to prohibit the practice as part of new regulations created to cover projects that reuse wastewater produced during hydraulic fracturing.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported it brought something of a celebration among environmental activists but Missi Currier, President and CEO of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said the rules will “stifle innovation” and set back the state’s water conservation efforts.
The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association was less celebratory. In a statement, President and CEO Missi Currier said the action would “stifle innovation” and set back the state’s water conservation efforts.
“Unfortunately, the rule passed by the Commission today rejects that reasonable approach and adopts the most severe and limiting regulation for the reuse of treated produced water anywhere in the country,” Currier said.
