Toxic “forever chemicals” present in New Mexico’s water supplies could be cleaned up thanks to millions of dollars in federal funds offered to the state as it grapples with industrial contamination.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals resulting from several industrial practices like manufacturing and recently linked to oil and gas production in New Mexico. The chemicals do not break down in the environment, and are believed the cause of several health impacts including cancer from long-term exposure. Because of nationwide contamination and exposure, PFAS are found in the blood of most people, read an EPA report.

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) petitioned the federal government in 2021 to designate PFAS as hazardous material and strengthen state oversight on their use and remediation, in response to contamination found around the state’s Air Force bases and believed leeched into groundwater from firefighting foam. To that end, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) announced May 23 it would provide $18.9 million to New Mexico to fund efforts analyzing the extent of PFAS contamination, and other “emerging contaminants” in the state while identifying strategies to protect ground and surface water sources.

The program will focus on “disadvantaged communities,” read a news release, and was developed via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021.

More: ‘Forever chemicals’ found in Pecos River – What does that mean for your health?

Using the funds, NMED will conduct a series of public water sampling for PFAS throughout New Mexico over about two years, evaluating which communities are the most in need of assistance. NMED said it also planned public outreach in those communities where it finds the worst contamination to aid in clean up strategies.

The funds are available for five years, the EPA said, and will help devise a plan to identify PFAS contamination sites in public water systems, removing the substances and educating communities before implementing its plans for remediation.

“Clean, safe drinking water is something every person in New Mexico deserves,” said EPA Regional Administrator Earthea Nance, in a statement. “With this funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the New Mexico Environment Department will be able to take crucial steps to safeguard New Mexico’s drinking water from PFAS and other emerging contaminants.”

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) who participated in a ceremony at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe celebrating the funds May 23, said cleaning up PFAS contamination in New Mexico and across the U.S. should be a priority of the federal government.

“Combating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals or PFAS, in our public water systems is essential to provide safe water for communities in New Mexico,” Stansbury said in a statement. “New Mexicans know water is life, and they also know the state’s Democratic leaders are dedicated to cleaning the water supply for generations to come.”

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said the federal dollars would augment ongoing efforts at the state level to investigate PFAS contamination and hold polluters accountable.

“Contamination and pollution from forever chemicals like PFAS threaten clean drinking water supplies that New Mexico communities depend upon,” he said.

“I am proud to welcome $18.9 million that we secured through the Infrastructure Law to ramp up New Mexico’s urgent efforts to detect pollution and protect our precious water resources from PFAS and other emerging contaminants.”

More: New Mexico called on to ban ‘forever chemicals’ in oil and gas, as feds push restrictions

In the 2021 petition, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called on the EPA to strengthen its PFAS restrictions, leading to a Feb. 1 proposal from the agency to list the contaminants federally as hazardous waste. This allowed the State and federal agencies more authority in restricting the release of PFAS into local water supplies and requiring clean up by entities responsible. These federal regulations came amid calls from environmental groups to see PFAS banned from fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” used by oil and gas operators to reach underground shale deposits containing fossil fuels.

The presence of PFAS in oil and gas drilling operations was suggested in a 2023 study by Physicians for Social Responsibility. The report showed since 2013 two chemicals categorized as PFAS were found in fracking operations, along with three categories of chemicals that could be PFAS but were shrouded by “trade secrets,” said the study’s lead author Dustin Horwitt, upon releasing the study on April 11, 2023.

The use of PFAS in fracking was refuted by Missi Currier, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association in a column published in the Carlsbad Current-Argus on May 3. She responded to an April 10 study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that found PFAS in all rivers in New Mexico, including the Pecos River in the southeast Permian Basin region.

The USGS study indicated the contamination was slightly higher in sample wells conducted in the southern portion of the Pecos, after flowing through urban areas and the Permian Basin oilfields.

Currier contended the contaminants were introduced into the Pecos River before it reached the oil and gas region.

“Concerns that the oil and gas industry introduces per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – or PFAS – into its produced water are unwarranted,” she wrote. “To be clear, the oil and gas industry is not a source of PFAS in produced water.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.