New Mexico’s groundwater protections may take a hit

The state has long been a leader in this area – is that about to change?

After three weeks under glaring lights in a Santa Fe hearing room, the 10 men on New Mexico's Water Quality Control Commission looked weary. Some were hypnotized by laptops, and binders stacked like monuments to the complexity of groundwater regulation obscured others. But when Bill Olson wheeled a handcart piled with document boxes to the witness stand, the commissioners perked up, adjusting their glasses. The April afternoon grew tense.

Olson, a neatly bearded water guru in cowboy boots and a bolo tie, had sat on this commission for 13 of the 25 years he spent regulating water quality for the state, including running its groundwater bureau. He retired in 2011, planning to spend his time riding horses, repairing the neglected stucco on his home, and doing some hydrological consulting.

He did begin the consulting work, at least. The Environment Department hired him to help draft a new groundwater pollution rule for copper mines. Olson's contract stipulated that he would testify for the state when the commission, which has final say on new regulations, considered the "copper rule." But in a surprising twist, he was there that April day to oppose the rule he'd been hired to write. Olson spent the better part of a year drafting his arguments, working full-time with no pay. His motivation was simple, he says. In a state where almost everyone drinks groundwater, "It's important."

As a regulator, Olson sought the middle ground between business and environmentalists. The copper rule ultimately proposed by the state was unquestionably good for the mines. But Olson believed last-minute changes made by the Environment Department's top brass upended New Mexico's Water Quality Act by giving mines a free pass to sully groundwater. The rulemaking had become political. To Olson, it was jeopardizing one of the public's most precious resources.

The copper rule's undoing follows a larger trend in New Mexico. Historically a leader in groundwater protection, New Mexico spent the last decade gradually strengthening its rules for major polluters. But since taking power in 2011, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's administration has aggressively attacked environmental protections. The copper rule is the latest reform, and potentially the most damaging. Water-quality advocates fear it will set a precedent for all polluters, from drycleaners to molybdenum mines. As Olson puts it: "It's probably the biggest thing to happen with groundwater protection in New Mexico since the rules were first adopted 35 years ago."