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New Mexico legislature kills bill to buy cured wastewater

A plan launched by New Mexico's Democratic governor at COP28 to utilize $100 million in state funds to buy cured brackish or wastewater from oil and gas operations stopped working to get assistance from the state's. legislature on Thursday.

The southwestern state's legislature closed its 2024 session. on Thursday without approving legislation to allow the state to. Set up a strategic water supply made up of cured water. the state's environmental company will move on with a. ask for information on the concern with a March 31 deadline.

New Mexico is the second-biggest oil and gas making. state, behind Texas, and it brings massive quantities of water to. the surface area. Most of it is put back underground neglected, as it. produces oil and gas. At the COP28 environment top in Dubai, Governor Michelle Lujan. Grisham announced a strategy to invest up to $500 million to buy. dealt with drilling wastewater, along with brackish water from. underground sources, to construct a strategic supply of water.

She had actually wished to release the program this spring, and the. aim was to take pressure off the dry state's diminishing water. materials and eliminate its reinjection wells, which researchers. say are at danger of filling and activating earthquakes.

The guv had actually told the brackish underground water. could potentially be dealt with for public intake, while the. produced water from drillers would be made fit for use in tidy. energy manufacturing.

Environmental groups had actually raised issues about the. guv's strategy - and subsequent legislation to enact the strategy -. saying it might present dangers to aquifers and would generally benefit. oil and gas producers.

The state must step back from the brink of investing $100. million dollars of the people's money on a principle that presents. major, unaddressed threats to our state's aquifers, said Erik. Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western. Environmental Law Center.

(source: Reuters)