{"id":49123,"date":"2026-05-22T13:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=49123"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:11:11","slug":"70-foot-wastewater-geyser-reflects-new-mexicos-latest-oilfield-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/70-foot-wastewater-geyser-reflects-new-mexicos-latest-oilfield-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"70-Foot Wastewater Geyser Reflects New Mexico\u2019s Latest Oilfield Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

It\u2019s a towering example of the contentious debate over what to do with the state\u2019s ever-growing supply of oilfield waste.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story<\/a> was originally published at Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Three
Stills from video footage of a geyser of oilfield wastewater at a site operated by NGL Energy Partners in southeast New Mexico. Courtesy Jackie Onsurez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At first, he thought it was smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackie Onsurez was driving the bustling New Mexico highway between his home in Loving and nearby Carlsbad last Tuesday evening when he thought the smoke didn\u2019t look right. As he pulled closer, he saw that the 70-foot plume was actually a roaring geyser of toxic oilfield wastewater, commonly called produced water, spewing from a pipe at a site operated by NGL Energy Partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onsurez, who until recently was running for the state\u2019s lieutenant governor position, said he called NGL, 911, the New Mexico Environment Department and others. He was at the site for a few minutes when an oilfield roughneck arrived in a pickup truck and tried to stop the spraying water but couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the man then \u201cstarted to haul ass out of there. He said, \u2018Get out of here. There\u2019s gas coming out. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s there. Get out, get out!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footage courtesy of Jackie Onsurez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Onsurez didn\u2019t leave, though. He is an engineer and serves on the New Mexico State Emergency Response Commission \u2014 the day before, he had attended a commission meeting on hazardous materials spills. The serendipity wasn\u2019t lost on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was able to observe firsthand the equipment and the training and everything else that\u2019s needed for here [in the oilfield],\u201d he said. \u201cThe only people that had protective gear was the fire department when they arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire department cordoned off the area a few minutes after the roughneck fled. NGL representatives arrived soon after and shut off the shooting water. By that point, Onsurez had been at the site for about a half hour. He didn\u2019t know how long it had been spewing before he arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contaminated water flowed across the road and ran into a nearby drainage ditch. Onsurez had also called Alisa Ogden, a farmer and rancher and member of the Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District, to let the group know of the spill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Ms. Ogden, I hate to bother you, but it looks like this might be getting into your acequias,\u2019\u201d Onsurez said, using the common Spanish term for the traditional Southwest water system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t know what happens, you can\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d Ogden said later. \u201cGratefully, Jackie let us know immediately when he saw it and we got right on it and were able to keep the produced water \u2026 from flowing down towards the Pecos River,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t keep us up at night, but with the oilfields out here, it\u2019s always a hazard that it could happen,\u201d Ogden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report<\/a> filed by NGL with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, a one-inch nipple broke on a high-pressure water injection line, leading to the blowout. The report said 40 barrels of produced water escaped, 10 of which were recovered. The remaining 30 flowed into the nearby ditch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidney Hill, the public information officer at the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, which oversees the Oil Conservation Division, said that NGL collected samples from the ditch and \u201cWe expect to receive them sometime this week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccidents do happen,\u201d Ogden said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all had accidents occur. It\u2019s how you react to \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said NGL is responsible and has agreed to do the cleanup. \u201cThey did everything they could at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce we get all the samples back and everything, then we\u2019ll come up with a plan on what they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGL did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footage courtesy of Jackie Onsurez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In December 2024, an inspector from the state\u2019s Oil Conservation Division found a pump leaking wastewater on the wellsite\u2019s cement slab. Asked by Capital & Main about a scheduled three-month follow-up visit that didn\u2019t appear in the well files, Hill said, \u201cThank you for pointing out the past due compliance. We will investigate why it isn\u2019t closed out but it does not seem associated with the current release.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGL transports oil, gas and wastewater around oil basins from the Gulf Coast, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico. It also has a growing business disposing of produced water in deep injection wells like the one just north of Loving. In its annual report<\/a>, the company claimed to be the largest independent wastewater transporter and disposal company in the U.S., handling nearly a billion barrels of the toxic water across its operations last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the greater scheme of wastewater spills in New Mexico, NGL\u2019s accident was notable for being visible, not for being big. Between Jan. 1 and May 19, 48 companies reported 356 spills, losing 15,335 barrels of wastewater across the state. The biggest was a 2,000 barrel spill<\/a> in January by Hilcorp Energy Company, just 1,300 feet from a neighborhood in north Farmington. Devon Energy Corporation reported the most wastewater spills so far with 93, compared to three for NGL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But last week\u2019s briny geyser highlights one of the fastest-growing controversies in New Mexico\u2019s oil and gas industry: what to do with produced water. In 2025<\/a>, oil producers brought up more than 800 million barrels of oil and 2.7 billion barrels of wastewater in the state. Those barrels of wastewater increase as oil and gas production grows and the total has doubled since 2020. There is little agreement on what to do with all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water occurs naturally in oil and gas formations and is highly saline, laced with petroleum-based chemicals. It is often radioactive and can include the chemical cocktails that companies inject into wells during the fracking and production processes. The recipes for those cocktails are often protected trade secrets and can differ radically from well to well. Basically: The water is toxic, and its use outside the oilfield for anything but testing is forbidden in New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wastewater can be used to drill new wells, but the most common disposal method is underground disposal wells \u2014 like the one near Loving \u2014 where the water is reinjected into rock formations under extreme pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report filed by NGL with the Oil Conservation Division said the broken nipple was on a pipeline charged to 2,600 pounds per square inch. But the state is running out of injection locations as the rock formations fill and shift under the intense pressure of the injections, resulting in swarms of earthquakes<\/a> across the Permian Basin in both Texas and New Mexico. In addition, high-pressure wastewater deposits have breached old oil and gas wells, leading to brine leaks and geysers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A proposal put forward by the industry group Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance to allow wastewater to be treated and used outside the petroleum industry is once again<\/a> before the state\u2019s Water Quality Control Commission. It was knocked down last year following a fracas where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appeared to pressure the commission<\/a> to overturn a recently instituted ban on using the wastewater outside the oilfield. Earlier proposals argued that treated water could be used by other industries or possibly discharged into lakes and streams, a highly controversial use in a state that continues to suffer from a decades-long drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In separate interviews, lead lawyers from each side of the debate tackled each other\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthias Sayer, co-founder of the alliance, said he views treated water as \u201ca new source of water supply and as a reduced burden on the current management system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sayer said, \u201cSpills happen because oilfield [waste]water management is massive, constant, and operationally complex \u2026 That does not excuse spills, but it explains why a system built around moving very large volumes of high-salinity water will continue to experience [spills] unless the state improves infrastructure and creates better incentives for treatment, recycling, and beneficial reuse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tannis Fox, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center and a lead attorney against the reanimated wastewater proposal said, \u201cThe main argument that industry is making is that reuse of produced water is one solution to the water scarcity problem. And with that, we disagree. It\u2019s not a silver bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sayer said a \u201crobust body of science\u201d shows that oilfield wastewater can be treated and safely reused. \u201cThe question is not whether it can be done, but how to craft a rule that appropriately manages the risk,\u201d he said. \u201cThat question is answered by engaging the science and the experts behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fox said, \u201cThere is, of course, a significant debate about what the science is telling us.\u201d She and others are skeptical that new water treatment processes can reliably clean what\u2019s coming out of the ground. Water testing generally starts with looking for known, likely contaminants in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, she said, \u201cWe don\u2019t know all the constituents in produced water because the hydraulic fracturing fluids that industry uses are protected by trade secret rules.\u201d In addition, basic water chemistry and salinity varies widely across the state. The lack of clarity about what\u2019s in the water \u201cis a problem for emergency response workers if you don\u2019t know what\u2019s in those fluids,\u201d she added, with a nod toward the Loving spill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Fox said there hasn\u2019t been large-scale testing. \u201cThere have not been studies at scale. There has not been discharge at scale. There has not been treatment at scale. Reuse of produce water at an industrial scale is not there yet. So it is not a solution to water scarcity tomorrow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the [Water Quality Control Commission] approves a rule, the system will necessarily ramp up organically,\u201d Sayer said. \u201cThis is a runway, not a light switch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fox said, \u201cIt is by its nature a dirty industry, and obviously the world needs energy, and the sooner we get to clean energy the better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was originally published at Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner. Copyright 2026 Capital & Main.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a towering example of the contentious debate over what to do with the state\u2019s ever-growing supply of oilfield waste. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. At first, he thought it was smoke. Jackie Onsurez was driving the bustling New Mexico highway between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":49128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10906],"tags":[10907],"class_list":["post-49123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-partner-stories","tag-partner-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n70-Foot Wastewater Geyser Reflects New Mexico\u2019s Latest Oilfield Challenge - New Mexico In Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/70-foot-wastewater-geyser-reflects-new-mexicos-latest-oilfield-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"70-Foot Wastewater Geyser Reflects New Mexico\u2019s Latest Oilfield Challenge - New Mexico In Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a towering example of the contentious debate over what to do with the state\u2019s ever-growing supply of oilfield waste. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. 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