New Mexico
WQCC commissioner will abstain from final produced water rule vote • Source New Mexico
A New Mexico water board member with ties to the oil and gas industry announced Monday she will abstain from a final vote on statewide rules developing additional uses of oil and gas wastewater.
The Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC), an oft-overlooked body of 13 members tasked with shaping and enforcing state water policy, is reviewing proposed rules to expand uses for oil and gas wastewater.
Currently, there are 12 members, with one vacant seat.
Rulemaking on the issue has been a monthslong process. The commission resumed hearing testimony and cross examination of witnesses supporting or challenging proposed rules on Monday, after a week of testimony in May.
In the opening minutes of the meeting Monday, Commissioner Krista McWilliams stopped short of recusing herself, saying there is no basis for allegations of personal or corporate gain from her position on the WQCC. She said she would listen to hearings and offer her opinions, but she’ll abstain from voting.
“If the commission would allow, I intend to remain a participant in the hearing and remain committed to serve New Mexico,” she said. “However, I do not want to stand in the way of due process. In order to allow science to have its day in court, I will abstain from the final vote.”
How did we get here?
McWilliams’ statement follows months of questions about unclear disclosure rules for commission members, and a motion for McWilliams to recuse herself filed by an environmental group opposing the rules’ adoption.
In June, Navajo Nation citizens Daniel Tso and Samuel Sage and New Energy Economy, a nonprofit organization opposing the rules, filed a motion requesting McWilliams recuse herself, alleging conflicts of interest with oil and gas interests.
The issue escalated as additional motions were filed in July.
McWilliams called the allegations “baseless” on Monday, further saying that neither she, her husband, nor their Farmington-based oil and gas company LOGOS Energy receive any gain from her sitting on the rulemaking body.
She said she would not receive a financial benefit from the rulemaking, and said that LOGOS Energy or her husband Jay Paul McWilliams had not participated with the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association since 2022.
“Despite my industry background, I remain committed to the Water Quality Act objective of protecting public health and enhancing water quality,” she said. “My obligation is to serve the public interests, not personal or corporate gain.”
She further said a six-year-old video “aimed to inform the public about fracking,” a process of injecting liquid at high pressures for oil and gas instruction, was done on a voluntary basis and had no relation to the rule-making process.
In the video, which is no longer on the website, McWilliams said she supports the controversial drilling practice, saying at one point: “Fracking, it’s a sensitive subject. I get it. But I feel good about fracking.”
Missi Currier, the president and CEO of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, which lobbies on behalf of the industry, filed testimony saying that McWilliams did not know the video was still on the nonprofit’s website.
Mariel Nanasi, the executive director for New Energy Economy, told Source NM that McWilliam’s abstention doesn’t go far enough.
“She’s only abstaining from the vote, she’s not abstaining from the deliberation,” Nanasi said, adding that she feels that could taint the commission’s ultimate decision, and could be brought up in an appeal.
Tso echoed those concerns in a call after the hearing, saying he’s concerned her participation will still “slant the final rules.”
No statements from party members or the public were allowed in the hearing, according to the Hearing Officer Felicia Orth, who’s acting as the judge in the matter.
Orth said in the hearing, that she was deferring any ruling on the recusal issue to the commission, and said the issue may be explored by other state agencies. But it appears the issue is closed before the WQCC.
A mirror complaint that New Energy Economy submitted to the State Ethics Commission is part of a separate proceeding, which is not open to the public at this time.
In a copy of McWilliams’ response to the ethics complaint obtained by Source NM, she requested that a hearing be postponed until after the Aug. 5 WQCC proceedings.
What is produced water?
Oil and gas wastewater, often called produced water, is at the center of the rulemaking.
As New Mexico water sources are expected to become increasingly strained by more demand and shrinking supplies from a hotter, drier climate – the relationship between oil and gas and its wastewater is drawing more public attention to the deliberations.
The state generates billions of gallons of toxic wastewater from oil and gas production. The wastewater is often extremely salty and includes hazardous chemicals used in fracking such as PFAs, arsenic, benzene and more.
Much of the water is currently disposed of by injecting it underground, which has been linked to earthquakes. Some of the wastewater is recycled for further oil drilling.
Currently, there is no approved use for produced water off of the oilfields.
Inside Climate detailed the week’s worth of debate from the hearings in May. Across hours of testimony, New Mexico Environment Department experts proposed using produced water in industrial processes, such as power plant cooling, manufacturing or hydrogen production and developing smaller demonstration projects to study treatments.
Oil and gas industry representatives argued too-restrictive rules, including the proposed rules, will drive companies from New Mexico to other states and environmental groups oppose using the wastewater for industry, citing health and safety concerns.
What’s happening this week?
The Water Quality Control Commission is scheduled to hold rulemaking hearings through the end of the week.
The meetings are held in Committee Room 322 in the Roundhouse. Links to a livestream are available online by visiting the Calendar for New Mexico Environment Department, and using the link to attend the webinar. Public comment can be made in person or online.
CHIMAYO, N.M. (KRQE) – A suspect is dead following a shooting involving the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office in Chimayo on Highway 76. Deputies are said to be okay. New Mexico State Police is investigating the shooting.
KRQE News 13 will provide updates as they become available.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
READ MORE: Dona Ana County expands Flock license plate cameras as officials cite crime-solving gains
The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
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