A bill that would pause new fracking permits in the state passed the Senate Conservation Committee on Saturday, while an attempt to amend the Energy Transition Act died in the committee.
Albuquerque Democrats Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero co-sponsored SB 149. The bill would enact a four-year pause on fracking permits while the state conducted studies to determine the impacts of fracking on agriculture, environment and water resources and public health.
The bill directs state agencies and departments, including the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, the New Mexico Environment Department, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture to study and report annually to the governor and the relevant legislative committees on the impacts of fracking on the respective sectors. “Nothing [would] affect existing operating wells,” Sedillo Lopez said. “It’s to pause those [new permits] for four years to give us two long sessions and two short sessions to hear from our regulating agencies about what is the impact of this technology on our air, land and water, and also to make recommendations for what should happen.”
Biologist and author Dr. Sandra Steingraber, who spoke in support of the bill as an expert witness, highlighted the public health impacts that have been linked to living near fracking wells in a growing body of peer-reviewed research.
“Smog and toxic air pollution follows fracking wherever it goes and there again is no real good way to mitigate this, because the air pollution begins as soon as the drill bit goes into the ground,” Steingraber said. “So far, the public health problems associated with drilling and fracking include poor birth outcomes among babies born to pregnant women living near fracking sites, respiratory impacts cancer, heart disease—and more recently we understand, mental health problems.”
RELATED: Bill would halt new fracking permits while state conducts impact studies
The bill was widely supported by local environmental groups, including Tewa Women United, the New Mexico Environmental Law, the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club, New Energy Economy and YUCCA.
The legislation was opposed by oil and gas groups, including the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and lobbyists for Occidental Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Excel Energy and Chevron, which argued that fracking is safe and that concerns about the technology are overblown.