New Mexico to investigate PFAS 'forever chemicals' in oil and gas drilling after petition

“Forever chemicals” could be banned from oil and gas production in New Mexico, after state regulators said they were considering new rules to regulate the substances and planned a hearing next year.

The chemicals known as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are typically found as byproducts of industrial processes and were recently discovered in oil and gas drilling fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, according to an April study.

That research was conducted by Physicians for Social Responsibility, finding evidence of PFAS in fracking, when a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped underground to pressurize and break up shale rocks containing oil and natural gas.

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This process allowed operators to target deeper and harder-to-reach oil and gas deposits in New Mexico’s Permian Basin, causing production and revenue to grow.

But it also could leach toxic chemicals like PFAS into New Mexico’s subsurface, the report read, imperiling ground water supplies.

In response, New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Commission (OCC), the governing body of the Oil Conservation Division (OCD) – New Mexico’s primary oil and gas oversight agency – voted unanimously at a July 13 meeting it would study the presence of PFAS in the state’s oil and gas operations.

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The OCC also voted to begin devising new rules to regulate PFAS in fossil fuel development and scheduled an about week-long public hearing in February 26 to March 1, 2024.

This was in response to a petition submitted July 11 to New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham by a coalition of environmental groups throughout the state, after Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians filed a request in May that the OCC address PFAS from oil and gas.

In a letter to Lujan Grisham calling for the rulemaking, the groups said the State should ban the use of all PFAS in oil and gas production under New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Act.

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“The proposal submitted to the Oil Conservation Commission addresses the very real threat dangerous chemicals like PFAS pose to New Mexico communities and clean water by both prohibiting the use of PFAS in downhole oil and gas operations and enhancing disclosure rules to ensure compliance and transparency around the chemicals used by industry,” read the letter.

At the July 13 OCC meeting Michael Feldewert with the law firm Holland & Hart, representing the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the industry trade group was examining WildEarth Guardians’ assertions and its proposal and planned to respond amid the rulemaking process.

“We’re still digesting the proposal, trying to get an understanding of the extent that PFAS is an issue today in the completion operations that are being done here in the state of New Mexico,” he said. “Trying to examine and get arms around what WildEarth Guardians has provided in terms of that report to suggest the industry is using PFAS today.”

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Staff Attorney with WildEarth Guardians Tim Davis said the Lujan Grisham administration must hold the industry accountable for potential water pollution resulting from extraction.

PFAS are linked to health impacts like cancers, liver damage and infertility through long-term exposure, the group reported.

"New Mexico needs to lead the charge to hold the oil and gas industry accountable to protecting this state's scarce and invaluable clean water," Davis said. "The Michelle Lujan Grisham administration not only has the authority, but the duty to do the right thing here, and we look forward to ensuring the Governor holds true to her position that toxic forever chemicals don't belong in this state."

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Joan Brown, executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light said the State of New Mexico had a “moral responsibility” to address public health and environmental concerns tied to the oil and gas industry.

She cited the Corporal Work of Mercy, a Catholic doctrine that requires “to give drink to the thirst,” which Brown argued would not be possible if New Mexico’s water was contaminated with PFAS.

"Agencies and leaders have an ethical responsibility to give the public truth and information about one of our most precious and sacred gifts – water," she said. “Today, we cannot abide by our moral responsibilities if our water is polluted, and communities have no knowledge of toxic chemicals in 'sister water' and how this might affect health and children in the womb."

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico to investigate 'forever chemicals' in oil and gas drilling