The risk that fracking can contaminate water supplies and cause other harm has been well documented, from Wyoming to Pennsylvania.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation’s only permanent nuclear waste repository, is located 2,150 feet underground.
The state and the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 3 million acres and thousands of wells in southeast New Mexico, require three layers of steel and cement casing around wells to prevent ruptures in porous limestone.
Drilling through the limestone requires fresh water to prevent contamination of drinking water.
But drilling through salt requires brine, because fresh water would dissolve the salt formations and would make wells structurally unstable.
Either way, drilling unearths massive quantities of fluid known as “produced water” that must be drained from the wells.
About half is treated and recycled, and the other half injected into 721 wastewater wells meant for permanent disposal of the fluid.
Fracking the wells to release the oil requires more water — 34 million gallons for a single well just under 2 miles deep, according to the state.
The state Oil Conservation Division documented almost 800 surface spills or leaks last year in the two counties — Eddy and Lea — where most of the fracking occurs.
New Mexico officials say they are confident that regulations and an ample number of inspectors can prevent such contamination.