These three significant environmental bills are among those that the governor signed:
- SB 23, Oil and Gas Royalty Rate Changes, raises oil and gas royalty rates from 20% to the market rate of 25% for new leases. This is the third time the State Land Office has attempted to ensure that New Mexico receives the same compensation that Texas receives from oil operators, and to increase state funding from the oil and gas industry by $1 billion.
- SB 21, Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, authorizes the state to take over pollutant discharge permitting for waters still federally protected and under EPA jurisdiction. This authority is necessary to pursue primacy for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permits so that New Mexico can pass more stringent water protections than federal law allows. Read more here. The bill, which was merged with SB 22, puts in place discharge permit standards for the 95% of New Mexico waterways that were excluded from Clean Water Act protections by the Sackett decision. The original version of SB 22 included language requiring the promulgation of rules for reuse of produced water outside the oilfield. We joined Defend NM Water to ask the sponsors and Conservation Committee members to amend the bill to allow for produced water research outside the oilfield only at an accredited laboratory, and prohibit all other reuse until scientific evidence demonstrates treatment safety.
- SB 37, Strategic Water Reserve Fund, enhances this 20-year-old fund in a number of ways. It expands the purpose of the fund to include recharging aquifers, and it creates a non-reverting fund so that appropriations are available when needed. (The similarly named HB 137, Strategic Water Supply Act, has been signed by the Governor. It had passed both chambers handily despite strenuous opposition from water experts who decry its lack of clarity about the toxic discharges of "produced" water as well as its use of public funds to benefit oil producers. For details about these issues, see https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/ .)
SB 4, Clear Horizons and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, failed to make it through the Senate Finance Committee. It would give NM emissions reduction goals the force of law, require the establishment of rules, and establish assessment and reporting requirements by the Environmental Improvement Board. Importantly, this bill did not endorse the dangerous and empty false solutions that prior legislation included like "carbon trading" or "carbon credits". Read more here.