Contacts:
Tannis Fox, Western Environmental Law Center, 505-629-0732, fox@westernlaw.org
Rachel Conn, Amigos Bravos, 575-770-8327, rconn@amigosbravos.org
Dale Doremus, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 505-795-5987, doremuswater@gmail.com
Today, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) accepted a rulemaking petition filed by an oil and gas industry-led organization that would begin the process to create a rule allowing oil and gas wastewater—called “produced water”—to be discharged to New Mexico surface and ground waters and used in agriculture. Produced water is a toxic soup of chemicals that the WQCC concluded less than a year ago in a prior rulemaking could not be treated to levels safe to discharge into the state’s waters. The existing rule banning produced ...
ALBUQUERQUE — The Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter is calling on New Mexico officials to act against the Trump regime’s latest attack on our environment. On Monday federal officials rescinded the 2024 Public Lands Rule for the Bureau of Land Management.
The rule ensured conservation, wildlife, clean water, cultural resources, and Indigenous Knowledge would be fully considered alongside development across more than 250 million acres of public land. Rescinding the rule strips the agency of critical tools needed to manage land health and respond to growing climate and ecological challenges, while also harming local communities built on recreational tourism who depend on healthy landscapes.
The move is part of the administration’s agenda to weaken protections in order to benefit extractive ...
