The New Mexico Legislature on June 26, 2024 in Santa Fe. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
State lawmakers are meeting in Hobbs to tour oil and gas fields, hear presentations on uranium refinement, nuclear waste storage and consider future bills on addressing air pollution and wastewater.
The Radioactive and Hazardous Materials interim committee will hear four presentations on Friday during a meeting scheduled to start at 9 a.m. in the Zia Park Casino Hotel and Racetrack.
Rep. Joanne Ferrary (D-Las Cruces), who chairs the committee, said the tours of oil and gas operations will begin before the meeting.
“Staff and committee members will tour the setbacks of some of the different operations, and see how close they are to schools, homes and housing developments,” Ferrary said. “We think that’ll give us a good idea when we come to the afternoon and talk about produced water and water reuse, and setbacks.”
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The first two presentations are centered on nuclear industry impacts. Those are expected to be mostly informational and allow lawmakers to ask questions, Ferrary said.
“This ensures they’re monitoring and keeping us up to date when things are happening and allow for us, with any concerns, to bring them to light,” she said.
The first panel features representatives of Urenco USA, the company that runs a uranium enrichment facility, which announced plans earlier this year to expand its plant in Eunice, New Mexico. That plant is the only operating commercial uranium enrichment facility in the United States.
On the same panel, the New Mexico lawmakers on the committee will also hear from Eunice resident Rose Gardner, who co-founded a grassroots group Alliance for Environmental Strategies, which has rallied community concerns around proposed nuclear storage facilities in the area, and across the border in Texas.
The second panel will include members from the U.S. Department of Energy. Also slated to talk regarding the Waste Isolation Pilot Program (WIPP) near Carlsbad isDon Hancock, a member of the nuclear watchdog the Southwest Research and Information center.
Hancock told Source New Mexico l that his presentation will center on the changes to WIPP’s 10-year operating permit, which state environmental officials granted last year.
WIPP is the nation’s only storage site for defense-related nuclear waste, usually items soiled with elements heavier than uranium – mostly plutonium.
Some of the new provisions require additional disclosure from the U.S. Department of Energy, about plans for WIPP expansion and potential changes in its mission for disposal. It requires the agency to say what it’s doing for finding additional sites to store nuclear waste each year.
Hancock said it’s also incumbent on New Mexico to enforce the new contract, saying he hopes this will push a public engagement plan from state and federal officials to describe what exactly is happening with the pilot project.
WIPP was previously slated to close in 2024, but the Department of Energy said it could be open until 2083.
Hancock said the federal government is failing to be transparent about its plans for the nuclear waste site.
“The DOE has said for the last 25 years that WIPP would operate for 25 years, well it turns out that 25 years isn’t credible, and 85 years isn’t credible either,” he said.
The afternoon panels include the return of priorities from the previous legislative session this year. This includes reports to lawmakers about setbacks and uses and regulation of oil and gas wastewater.
Rep. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque) said one of her 2025 legislative priorities includes bringing back restrictions on how close oil and gas can drill in proximity to schools, to reduce air pollution impacts on kids.
She cited a recent report from the New Mexico Environment Department that 60% of inspected facilities in New Mexico’s Permian Basin were violating air quality permits.
“We’re really looking at oil and gas, because they keep polluting,” Sariñana said.