From the President’s Desk: Governor Lujan Grisham’s Bad Water Priorities for Next Fiscal Year

The Legislative Finance Committee meets Wednesday afternoon at the UNM Student Union Building regarding a False Solution to New Mexico’s Water Crisis

The Legislative Finance Committee(LFC) is very powerful, so powerful that it openly ignores the Legislature’s numerous policy subcommittees, specifically including the Water and Natural Resources Committee.

The Governor’s infrastructure czar Rebecca Roose and the Governor’s senior water advisor Tanya Trujillo will tell the LFC’s Water Subcommittee Wednesday afternoon at the UNM Student Union Building about the Governor’s water funding priorities for the budget year that begins next July. The second of two panels will present the Governor’s falsely labeled ‘Strategic Water Supply.’

LFC’s Control Over Water and Natural Resources Funding

LFC Chair Nathan Small told the plain truth earlier this year to Water and Natural Resources Committee; LFC makes all the state funding decisions and its Water Subcommittee will make the water and natural resources programs funding decisions. Period. Many state legislators, including senior leadership members and policy committee chairs, want to see that changed.

The Distraction of Fracking Wastewater and Its Misleading Messaging

The problem now is that LFC Chair Nathan Small and co-chair Meredith Dixon are fixated on the impossible and apparently fail to understand that adapting to New Mexico’s arid future is existentially important, but has not yet begun. Transforming fracking wastewater from the Permian Basin into a common New Mexico water supply is a huge distraction; the epitome of a false solution. This screenshot illustrates a likely reason why it is now front and center.

Chevron’s false message that because of fracking wastewater, New Mexico should have an attitude of water supply abundance, was delivered repeatedly at the June 5th Chevron “produced water symposium.” Chevron’s spokesperson Cristian Icely, manager of the Chevron mine that despoiled the Red River, was rewarded by Rebecca Roose’s enthusiastic support and equally false statements that evening. LFC members were in the audience. LFC vice-chair Meredith Dixon was a member of a supportive panel.

Governor’s Office Water Policies: Underfunding Real Solutions

Private information leads me to believe the Governor’s Office has decided to not to fund implementation of the 2023 Water Security Planning Act or aggressively equip New Mexico’s water agencies with modern tools and resources they require to do the water management work that only the State of New Mexico can do. The ISC needs funding and sufficient staff to fund regional water planning entities to do the hard work of finding regional water supply solutions that the unanimously approved 2023 Water Security Planning Act authorizes and assigns to the planning regions. The OSE must have the staff and tools required to provide reliable water data and to administer wet water; rather than administering paper permits and keeping track of water rights. Will we hear consensus priorities of real water managers emphasized on Wednesday? I think not.

We face a multifaceted water crisis – overuse, dwindling aquifers, insufficient political action – all exacerbated by a warming climate.

The second panel on the ‘Strategic Water Supply is highly predictable. I rebutted Environment Department Secretary James Kenney and Roose on August 26 as a member of that committee’s ‘Strategic Water Supply’ panel.  My presentation slides tell the true story. Will James Kenney and the NMED deputy secretary, whose expertise is energy, not environmental protection, admit any of the plain truths of my presentation? What will State Engineer designee Elizabeth Anderson say? Will the Environment Department admit to the evidence of the 2022 internal audit the Environment Department initiated that demonstrates the false claims and failures of the Produced Water Research Consortium? [The Consortium manager admitted under cross examination that the audit recommendations have not been implemented!] Will Environment Department top officials be even a little more circumspect?  Or will they tell the same lies and make the same misrepresentations again? We will see.

The Multifaceted Water Crisis: Mismanagement and Climate Change

The landmark 2023 Water Security Planning Act didn’t even get a bulleted level mention in Governor’s 50-Year Water Action Plan, written by Rebecca Roose. Ms. Roose’s writing, representations, and rhetoric betray the recommendations of the State Engineer’s 2022 Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force. Ms. Roose was one of four members of the Task Force Executive Committee. The “action plan” she wrote for the Guv essentially ignores most of the Water Management and Planning work group’s action recommendations. .

Without water security, there will be no economic security. Aridity is overtaking us while overuse depletes our aquifers and groundwater contamination grows and spreads. And our state government chases after false solutions.

Call to Action: Urging Citizens to Advocate for Real Water Solutions

Please tell this to your State Senator and your State Representative.

New Mexico is not on the right water governance path. We must transform ourselves into stewards of the good water that we have. Badwater reclamation may play a small future role but much research is first required.

Today, badwater reclamation is aspirational and the wholly inadequate water management status quo is unchallenged by either the Governor or the Legislature. New Mexico will not survive under this water governance regime. Change is essential for future generations of New Mexicans.

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