WQCC commissioner will abstain from final produced water rule vote

Rayellen Smith delivers a petition to amend the proposed produced water rules before the Water Quality Control Commission on Aug. 5, 2024 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)

A New Mexico water board member with ties to the oil and gas industry announced Monday she will abstain from a final vote on statewide rules developing additional uses of oil and gas wastewater.

The Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC), an oft-overlooked body of 13 members tasked with shaping and enforcing state water policy, is reviewing proposed rules to expand uses for oil and gas wastewater.

Currently, there are 12 members, with one vacant seat.

Rulemaking on the issue has been a monthslong process. The commission resumed hearing testimony and cross examination of witnesses supporting or challenging proposed rules on Monday, after a week of testimony in May.

In the opening minutes of the meeting Monday, Commissioner Krista McWilliams stopped short of recusing herself, saying there is no basis for allegations of personal or corporate gain from her position on the WQCC. She said she would listen to hearings and offer her opinions, but she’ll abstain from voting.

“If the commission would allow, I intend to remain a participant in the hearing and remain committed to serve New Mexico,” she said. “However, I do not want to stand in the way of due process. In order to allow science to have its day in court, I will abstain from the final vote.”

How did we get here?

McWilliams’ statement follows months of questions about unclear disclosure rules for commission members, and a motion for McWilliams to recuse herself filed by an environmental group opposing the rules’ adoption.

In June, Navajo Nation citizens Daniel Tso and Samuel Sage and New Energy Economy, a nonprofit organization opposing the rules, filed a motion requesting McWilliams recuse herself, alleging conflicts of interest with oil and gas interests.

The issue escalated as additional motions were filed in July.

McWilliams called the allegations “baseless” on Monday, further saying that neither she, her husband, nor their Farmington-based oil and gas company LOGOS Energy receive any gain from her sitting on the rulemaking body.

She said she would not receive a financial benefit from the rulemaking, and said that LOGOS Energy or her husband Jay Paul McWilliams had not participated with the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association since 2022.

“Despite my industry background, I remain committed…