By Hannah Grover
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed two bills intended to reduce PFAS contamination in New Mexico.
“Our PFAS legislation protects public health and shifts cleanup costs from taxpayers to polluters, preventing expensive remediation in the future while exempting critical industrial applications,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “These bills ensure clean water for generations while strategically positioning New Mexico for sustainable economic growth in key industries across our state.”
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or forever chemicals, have been documented in various domestic water supplies in the state. These chemicals can enter the waterways through military training exercises, landfills or wastewater.
PFAS chemicals have been linked to negative health impacts, including increased risks of certain cancers. They are common in manufactured goods including upholstery products, cookware, cosmetics and ski wax.
PFAS contamination has been documented south of Santa Fe as well as in the Clovis area and, at record levels, in Holloman Lake.
House Bill 212 will ban intentionally-added PFAS chemicals in manufactured goods sold in New Mexico. These prohibitions will be phased in starting in 2027 when the new law will ban PFAS in cookware, food packaging and juvenile products. These products have greater risks of PFAS being ingested. Then, in 2028, additional products such as cosmetics, furniture and carpets will be included in the PFAS ban. By 2032, PFAS will be prohibited in almost all manufactured products sold in New Mexico.
The law does include some exemptions including medical, electronic and manufacturing sectors. While PFAS chemicals have documented health risks, they also play a key role in medicine. The drug Paxlovid, which is used to treat COVID-19, includes a chemical that could fit under the definition of PFAS.
HB 212 also requires inventories of firefighting foams that contain PFAS. Under the new law, these foams will only be able to be used during an emergency. That will prevent the foams from being used in training exercises like the ones linked to aquifer contamination near U.S. Air Force bases.
HB 212 received bipartisan support in the legislature, passing the House of Representatives on a 62-1 vote and the Senate on a 37-3 vote.
Meanwhile, House Bill 140 designates the discarded firefighting foams as hazardous waste, which will allow New Mexico to regulate the substances even if the federal government does not list them as hazardous. The bill was intended to address challenges the state has faced when trying to get contamination near military bases cleaned up.
This new law is intended to shift the costs of remediating the contaminated sites from taxpayers to polluters and to prevent additional contamination from occurring in the future.
The bill received unanimous support in the House of Representatives and passed the Senate on a bipartisan 35-7 vote.
“These PFAS bills represent an important step forward in protecting New Mexico from profound contamination issues, banning these dangerous chemicals and establishing regulations that create parity with federal agencies,” Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, said in a statement. “This proactive, visionary legislation will make our state safer, protect our environment and wildlife, and demonstrates our commitment to stopping pollution before it happens rather than dealing with its aftermath.”
Steinborn sponsored both HB 212 and HB 140.
New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney has pushed for both federal and state legislation to address PFAS chemicals.
“It’s time for states [to] break the cycle of PFAS moving through our economy and our environment,” Kenney said in a statement. “Our comprehensive laws establish consumer protections while addressing firefighting foams polluting our military communities.”
YES to House Bills 212 and 140!