December 4, 2023

Interim committee endorses rule banning PFAS in oil and gas extraction

The state Radioactive and Hazardous Materials interim legislative committee voted on Friday to send a letter to the Oil Conservation Commission supporting rules that would prohibit the use of PFAS in oil and gas extraction. This letter passed the committee on a 7-2 vote following lengthy discussion. Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, made the motion […]

Hannah Grover

The state Radioactive and Hazardous Materials interim legislative committee voted on Friday to send a letter to the Oil Conservation Commission supporting rules that would prohibit the use of PFAS in oil and gas extraction.

This letter passed the committee on a 7-2 vote following lengthy discussion.

Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, made the motion to approve the letter, which he described as endorsing the proposed rules.

While no industry representatives were present at the meeting, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and the Independent Petroleum Association were invited and sent a letter that the chairwoman read. In the letter, they expressed some support for the rulemaking.

The industry associations said that none of their members have used PFAS chemicals in years.

However, groups like Physicians for Social Responsibility have said that the operators are using PFAS precursors, or chemicals that turn into PFAS.

Steinborn pointed to the industry letter as well as to the reports of PFAS precursors being used in New Mexico’s oil and gas extraction.

He said that goes to show the importance of the rule, which he said could provide definition for what constitutes a PFAS chemical.

WildEarth Guardians and other groups petitioned the state’s Oil Conservation Division in May to create rules governing the use of PFAS in oil and gas. These groups hope for a ban on the use of the substances that are often called forever chemicals due to their persistence in the environment.

A rulemaking hearing before the Oil Conservation Commission is scheduled for Feb. 26 through March 1.

Republican lawmakers who voted against the letter pointed to the prevalence of PFAS chemicals throughout society.

PFAS chemicals are commonly used in household goods including hair products and carpets as well as in medical equipment and in food packaging.

Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, listed various products containing PFAS. She said even coronary stents used to help people who have had heart attacks contain PFAS.

But Melissa Troutman, the climate and energy advocate for WildEarth Guardians, told legislators that the rulemaking is focused on limiting unnecessary exposure to PFAS.

“Getting a stent, that’s probably a necessary exposure,” Troutman said.

But, she argued, injecting the chemicals into the subsurface where they might come into contact with groundwater creates unnecessary risk of exposure.

When asked about the focus on oil and gas—including requiring disclosure of chemicals that are currently considered trade secrets—when other sources may also contribute to PFAS in groundwater, including landfills leaching PFAS, Troutman said the rulemaking is about toxic and hazardous chemicals that are being injected into the subsurface.

“We don’t inject Coca-Cola and KFC and solar panels in and around our groundwater often,” she said.

She said it is important for people to know what chemicals may be in the environment that they might be exposed to.