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A Legislative Plan for NM Waters

Tesuque Creek, late September 2024, during a time of the year when the arroyo dries out.
Rob Hochschild
/
KSFR
Tesuque Creek, late September 2024, during a time of the year when the arroyo dries out.

The State Senate Conservation Committee heard arguments last week on two bills designed to protect water in New Mexico. 

The two proposed environmental measures respond, primarily, to federal policy.

SB-21, if it gets signed into law, will enable the New Mexico Environment Department to assume control of permitting around surface water pollution.

New Mexico is one of only three states in the nation that still allows the federal level EPA to have lead responsibility for monitoring surface pollutants.

When lead sponsor of the bill, senate majority leader Peter Wirth talks about SB-21, he often brings up the lack of authority the state had with regard to the controversial plan hatched by Bishop’s Lodge to discharge treated wastewater into Tesuque Creek.

The second measure, SB-22, also addresses water quality and pollution by ensuring that all surface water is taken into account.

The Clean Water Act allowed for monitoring of streams and rivers that only run part of the year until 2023, when a Supreme Court decision removed them from the equation.

Senate Bill 22 would re-incorporate those intermittent bodies of water into the state’s regulatory system.

Public commenters supporting the bill included people representing Acequia associations, tribal communities, and farmers.

Those commenting in opposition included people speaking on behalf of business owners, miners, the oil and gas industry, and dairy producers.

Most of them argued that the bill represented new regulations that would threaten economic growth.

Democratic Senator Wirth summed up his position just before the committee roll call.

“With what's happening in our state, and we live in a high desert state with climate change, with water reductions, it is more important than ever for our wellbeing, our quality of life, that we make darn sure we do everything to keep the water that we have clean,” Wirth said.

Both bills were given a “do pass” by the Conservation Committee as senators voted along party lines. The measures will next head to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rob Hochschild first reported news for WCIB (Falmouth, MA) and WKVA (Lewistown, PA). He later worked for three public radio stations in Boston before joining KSFR as news reporter.