New Mexico’s State Land Office is putting an end to the commercial sale of fresh water for oil and gas developments to protect the state’s scarce freshwater resources. Effective December 15, 2020, the State Land Office will not issue any new easements for the purpose of commercial sales of freshwater for oil and gas development, and will no longer re-issue or renew existing easements for such use once they expire, Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard said in a letter on Tuesday. As fresh water is an increasingly scarce resource in New Mexico—which is home to some of the most prolific shale formations of the Permian basin—the State Land Office now moves to protect that resource and to encourage oil and gas drillers to reuse and recycle water. “Rather than looking at fresh water as a commodity for sale to the highest bidder, we should look at the […]