A New Mexico lawmaker prefiled three bills aiming to close exceptions for the oil and gas industry’s disposal of contaminated water from federal laws, seek more data on water use and pollution, and potentially limit oil and gas activity near school property.

Rep. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque) said her background as a former teacher, and presentations on a 2023 lawsuit on behalf of people living around oil and gas hotspots in New Mexico, pushed her to act.

“Nobody’s really watching what’s happening, and nobody is holding anyone accountable,” Sariñana said.

The three bills would amend the state Oil and Gas Act.

Only one would allocate money to the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD), which has a division responsible for overseeing the oil and gas industry.

House Bill 30 would mostly ban oil and gas operators from using fresh water.

The bill also requires annual water use reports from oil and gas producers, documenting volume of fresh water, recycled produced water and treated produced water used in oil and gas operations.

Those reports would be sent to the Oil Conservation Division in the EMNRD. State regulators could note if the reports are incomplete or deficient. All reports would be published on the state’s website, according to the current version of the bill.

House Bill 31 adds fines for oil or liquid waste spills and requires state regulators to make rules on preventing accidents.

The bill would regulate disposal of produced water under the Safe Drinking Water Act, closing a federal loophole that exempts hydraulic fracturing from the law when enacted in 1974.

HB 31 would use the fines to help plug dry and abandoned oil wells. It requires operators to give public notification for people living within two miles of any spill. The proposal also requires notice to any sovereign tribal nation in New Mexico with landwithin 10 miles of a spill.

The bill allocates $750,000 to allow EMNRD to hire five employees to carry out the work.

House Bill 32 would establish “Children’s Health Protection Zones,” add additional penalties for polluting in those areas.

The zones would include a one-mile setback from school property, limiting how close oil and gas production could be from schools.

HB 32 seeks to ban that activity within those zones after 2028, except under very limited exceptions. If the current version passes, it would enact more stringent protocols for detecting leaks and giving public notification around schools when that occurs.

Sariñana is vice chair on the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources committee, where she said testimony during the interim showed her the gaps in cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells. She also heard concerns about issues reporting on freshwater use and pollution.

It’s not clear if the bills will make the call, which is set by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, but Sariñana said time was short to address the health and resource concerns.

Lawsuit: State allowance on oil and gas violates New Mexico Constitution

“We need to hold oil and gas more accountable than we ever have before,” she said. “For our kids’ health, for the people who live right by the extraction sites.”

People living in high-production oil and gas areas in the Four Corners and the southeast portion of the state are calling on the state to make a change in court. The lawsuit, filed in May 2023, includes individual families and environmental organizations suing New Mexico top officials, state agencies and rulemaking bodies.

The complaint claims that the state of New Mexico failed to enforce pollution laws, violating a duty laid out in a 1971 amendment in the state constitution. It further says state action allowing more oil and gas production and failing to address pollution is discrimination against Indigenous people, youth and communities surrounded by oil and gas.

Sariñana’s bill proposals are a good start, said Gail Evans, the attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“In the end, we need setbacks, not just around schools, but around where people live and work and get their health care,” Evans said in an interview. “But this is a good first step in terms of protecting our children. Likewise, with the other bills, these are really good steps to begin to protect our land and our water from these spills.”