Santa Fe New Mexican (Nov. 14, 2025) – A persistent effort to change New Mexico’s water regulations to allow for the reuse and discharge of treated fracking wastewater was dealt a blow Thursday.
Toward the end of an hourslong — and at times rowdy — meeting, the Water Quality Control Commission voted to vacate its July decision to advance a petition to allow some reuse and discharge of treated wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process to extract oil and gas. The substance is often called produced water.
The reversal came after the independent commission considered allegations from environmental advocacy groups that the Governor’s Office had pressured commissioners to support the oil and gas-backed change. The allegations stemmed largely from The New Mexican’s reporting on emails between Governor’s Office staff and a handful of Cabinet secretaries with seats on the commission.
Security guard Joel Nava asks Robb Hirsch with the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group to leave the Capitol during a Water Quality Control Commission meeting Thursday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and others — including those in the oil and gas industry — have cast the proposed produced water reuse rule as a necessary step in securing the state’s water future by freeing up other, dwindling, sources of freshwater, especially as companies plan more water-guzzling data centers to support increasing artificial intelligence workloads.
Thursday’s commission meeting at the state Capitol in Santa Fe kicked off with a chorus of boos from a crowd of dozens of people who overwhelmingly opposed the fracking wastewater reuse rule. Commission Chair Bruce Thomson proposed eliminating an opportunity for members of the public to give comments, saying there would be “plenty of opportunities” for public comment on the proposed rule down the road.
“What is this, Russia that we’re living in?” one man yelled, while a woman shouted, “the fix is in.”
Reversal of a reversal
The Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance — or WATR Alliance — which has ties to the oil and gas industry, put forward the petition seeking the rule change just weeks after the Water Quality Control Commission, which falls under the oversight of the New Mexico Environment Department, approved regulations prohibiting the discharge of fracking wastewater into the state’s waterways and groundwater outside an oil field.
Michael Sweringen speaks to the audience at the state Capitol during a Water Quality Control Commission meeting Thursday. Members of the public and representatives from environmental groups had lined up to voice complaints about transparency and conflicts of interest concerning a case on rules for produced water.
The commission’s vote in May came after a proceeding that lasted more than a year and included expert testimony and scientific research from multiple sides of the issue.
The commission voted to allow some pilot projects for reuse of produced water for industrial purposes, but it held that “insufficient evidence exists at this time to ensure that discharges of untreated or treated produced water are protective of human health or the environment.”
In July, however, the commission voted to set a hearing to consider the WATR Alliance’s petition.
The regulatory case has brought into relief the stark lines between various environmental advocates and Lujan Grisham, along with members of her Cabinet, such as Environment Secretary James Kenney.
Michael Coleman, a spokesman for the governor, wrote in an email Thursday it was “disappointing” the commission had reversed its decision to hold a hearing on the petition “prior to considering extensive water reuse research conducted in recent years.”
But, he added, the Lujan Grisham administration “will continue to work with stakeholders to implement the 50-Year Water Action Plan. The governor is focused on adopting comprehensive, science-based water reuse rules that are legally required under the Produced Water Act and crucial to protecting and preserving our freshwater resources for generations.”
‘Taint of collusion’
Thomson told members of the public they could give comments Thursday, but he prohibited comments directly related to the produced water reuse rule — a directive flouted by many who took their turn to speak.
Amid hours of public comments, Capitol security guards approached several speakers, asking them to leave after Thomson had interrupted them or cut off their microphone because they were commenting on details of the case.
Many of those who spoke against the rulemaking referred to a September report by The New Mexican concerning emails between Governor’s Office staff and Cabinet secretaries, in which Kenney instructed other department heads to fill their seats on the commission to hear the WATR Alliance’s petition.
The emails indicated Kenney and Governor’s Office staff had discussed the petition with other Cabinet heads in closed-door meetings, and one staffer encouraged them to help get the reuse rule “over the finished line,” according to an email.
Lisa Parlano of Albuquerque said Thursday, “This instruction strikes at the core of neutrality.”
She added, “When decision-makers are told in advance what outcome to deliver, they cease to be adjudicators and become instruments of influence that violate not only the [Water Quality Control Commission] rules, but the basic moral architecture of justice.”
Another woman from Albuquerque pointed to “the taint of collusion and corruption” between the Governor’s Office and members of the commission.
New Mexico Water Quality Control Commissioners Krista McWilliams, Randy Bayliss and William Brancard listen as members of the public and representatives from environmental groups voice complaints.
“The behavior of this board in meeting behind the scenes to thwart the will of the citizens and the voice and spirit of our air, land and water is beyond disappointing,” she said.
Lujan Grisham has disputed the allegations of undue influence on commissioners, with her spokesperson arguing the emails did not amount to violations of any rules or the Open Meetings Act.
The Governor’s Office did not address the allegations Thursday, but pointed to Lujan Grisham’s support of the reuse of treated fracking wastewater as a long-standing position.
At least one man Thursday broke with the room and urged commissioners to look beyond the state’s capital city for comments on the reuse rule.
Matthew Gonzales, the Southwest executive director of the energy advocacy group Consumer Energy Alliance, told the commission “this whole chorus in Santa Fe always saying ‘no’ is killing our opportunities.”
“I’m going to tell you that I travel around the state, and there are a lot of folks in a lot of communities, including mine in Colfax County, which is two and a half hours removed from here, and people want to have this discussion,” Gonzales said. “They want to look at the science. They want to understand what opportunities exist for New Mexico.”
‘Appearance of impropriety’
Commissioner William Brancard moved to vacate the commission’s July vote to advance the reuse rule petition, citing both the lack of involvement by Environment Department staff and experts in the proceeding as well as “the appearance of impropriety” in the case. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4, with one abstention.
With the reuse rulemaking petition no longer before the commission, environmental groups celebrated the vote Thursday as a way of “wiping the slate clean,” as a statement from the Western Environmental Law Center said.
“The commission made the right call by shutting down the oil industry’s push to dump toxic drilling waste into our rivers and onto our land,” said Colin Cox, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every New Mexican can be relieved knowing that commissioners stood their ground and didn’t cave to the heavy political pressure coming directly from the almighty fossil fuel industry and the Governor’s Office.”
Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the Santa Fe-based New Energy Economy, called the commission’s July vote “tainted,” saying in a statement it was “the product of bias, undue influence, and a predetermined outcome.”
She added, “New Mexicans made themselves heard — and today, the Water Quality Control Commission listened.”
This story has been amended to reflect the following correction. A previous version of this story misstated the status of the reuse rule petition, which is no longer before the Water Quality Control Commission.
State Commission Folds Under Pressure From Enviros
