About 50 people rallied Thursday outside of the headquarters for the New Mexico Environment Department calling for Secretary James Kenney’s resignation — the latest bout of tensions over proposed changes to regulation of wastewater from oil and gas fields.
Earlier this year, the state water commission adopted rules to allow for oil and gas wastewater pilot projects, but no discharges into surface or groundwater, a decision seen as a victory for environmental groups.
In June, a new petition requested the 12-member Water Quality Control Commission rewrite its May rule.
The petition was authored by an industry group known as WATR, which stands for Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse (WATR) Alliance, with board members from oil and gas giants Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and other industry interests.
WATR’s proposed rule would allow 13 counties to use “treated produced water” for uses such as watering livestock, “non-food crops,” construction and releases into the environment. Kenney pushed for the petition to move forward. While letters from more than 25 Democratic lawmakers objected to the proposed rule change, the WATR alliance’s position has backing from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has pushed for using the oil and gas wastewater to address projected water shortfalls.
In August, commissioners — including five cabinet secretaries sitting on the board instead of their designees — voted to override environmental groups’ objections to the petition, and opted to move forward with a hearing on a possible rule change. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Monday on an emailed exchange in July between staff at the governor’s office and cabinet heads appointed to the Water Quality Control Commission encouraging them to attend the August meeting in-person and get WATR’s petition “over the finish line.” The emails also referenced closed-door meetings about the petition.
Attendees at Thursday’s protest — which included members of organizations such as Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) New Mexico and parciantes from acequias —said the email exchange amounted to “rigging” the vote at the August meeting.
“If we allow corruption and lies to stand, we lose more than clean water, we lose the belief that our voices can shape the future,” said Zain Dixon, a YUCCA steering committee member, into a microphone outside the Harold Runnels Building. “We demand accountability. We demand a full investigation into every email, every directive, every backroom conversation, and we demand leaders who serve the people, not the oil and gas industry.”
The governor’s office denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Source NM Thursday.
“Cabinet secretaries are statutorily required to serve on the commission and have every right to participate directly in important votes. The administration’s position on water reuse has been public for months. Directing secretaries to attend required meetings rather than send staff does not violate any laws,” said Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham’s office, in a statement. “Secretary Kenney has the Governor’s confidence and will continue in his role.”
Kenney responded to Source NM in a statement through an environment department spokesperson.
“The New Mexico Environment Department respects the right to peaceful protest and public expression on all environmental issues and encourages public participation in our regulatory processes,” said NMED Director of Communications Drew Goretzka. “NMED and Sec. Kenney make science-based decisions and expect the same of the Water Quality Control Commission. The Administration’s position supporting water reuse regulations is outlined in the state’s 50-Year Water Action Plan released in 2024. NMED also has a legal obligation to pass water reuse regulations under the Produced Water Act. NMED technical and legal staff are meeting with WATR to review their petition against our policy and scientific standards.”
The New Mexico oil and gas industry generates billions of gallons of wastewater. The mixture is extremely salty and poses challenges for treatment since it can contain radioactive materials, heavy metals, toxic chemicals and cancer-causing compounds from the oil and gas, such as benzene. Oil and gas companies can use compounds protected as trade secrets in the mixture, which do not have to be disclosed to regulators or the public.
Eleanor Smith, a community organizer with Tó Nizhóní Ání, an organization fighting pollution on the Navajo Nation, drove four hours from her four corners home in Shiprock to attend the protest, saying the issue hits personally, due to the oil and gas development in the San Juan Basin.
“There is a lot of fracking on sacred lands and no thought for us as people,” Smith said.
Santiago Maestas, 76, a farmer in Pajarito in the South Valley of Albuquerque, said that while he had not previously participated in the hearings, he believed now the issue was too large to ignore.
“It’s time that we step forward and resist the contamination in our air, water and in our land,” he said, adding that he had one message to New Mexico’s officials on water saying in Spanish: “Don’t sell it, defend it.”
