I see stupid people, And their anti-science fearmongering could cost this state everything (Oil and water politics in New Mexico)

The Hobbs News-Sun ^ | December 21, 2025 | John R. Grizz Deal

[CedarDave]

I see stupid people. Not the harmless kind who get lost in the Walmart parking lot, but the ones who descend on public hearings like a flock of caffeinated pigeons, clutching reusable water bottles and muttering dark omens about “produced water” as if it’s the name of a demon summoned from an oilfield hellmouth. These are the people who read three paragraphs of a conspiracy blog and suddenly believe the periodic table is a government psyop. The sight of a chemistry diagram sends them into full fight-or-flight, usually choosing “rant.”

Meanwhile, outside their fluorescent echo chambers, New Mexico is cooking like a cheap steak in a roadside diner. The aquifers are shrinking faster than political promises, the rivers are fading into memory, and the state’s future is tied to water we no longer have. You would think, in times like these, that people would cling to solutions. Science. Technology. Common sense. But no. That would be too reasonable. Instead, we get a chorus of anti-science naysayers who treat “produced water reuse” like it’s a government plot to poison their houseplants.

Let me clarify one thing, loudly, for the people in the back row who keep clutching their pearls: all water is recycled. Every molecule you’ve ever swallowed has been through a dinosaur’s kidneys, a Roman aqueduct, a medieval cesspit, a cow pasture, and probably the wrong end of a thousand septic tanks. Water is the originalhitchhiker—it’s been everywhere and inside everything. The only reason it’s remotely drinkable today is because humans treat it. Filter it. Zap it. Scrub it like a crime scene until it’s safe to use again. That’s the entire concept of civilization.

So when we talk about produced water—the salty, gnarly, oilfield byproduct dragged out of the earth like a screaming troll—we’re not talking about something magical or unknowable. We’re talking about water that can be treated. In fact, national labs, universities, and more scientists than you can fit in the Lea County Event Center have demonstrated that produced water can be cleaned to meet whatever standard we choose. Agriculture? Yes. Industrial processes? Absolutely. Environmental restoration? It’s already been done elsewhere.

But in New Mexico, some folks would rather shove their heads deep into the desert sand and declare the sky is falling. They march into hearings waving fear like a flag, shouting reuse will turn the whole state into a chemical wasteland. Never mind that they have no evidence. Never mind the technology already exists. Never mind we are running out of water. Their crusade has nothing to do with science or safety. It is pure, uncut politics.

Let’s dispense with the polite fiction: The opposition isn’t about protecting the environment—it’s about attacking the oil and gas industry at any cost. Even if that cost is the future of New Mexico.

These folks would rather keep billions of gallons of reusable water buried in deep injection wells—gone forever—than admit something good could come from an industry they’ve decided is irredeemably evil. They hate oil and gas so much they’re willing to let the state run dry to prove a point. That isn’t activism. That’s ideological fanaticism dressed up Patagonia fleece jackets.

The Water Quality Control Commission, bowing to this theater, has ruled treated produced water cannot be used for any purpose outside the oilfield. Not for crops. Not for manufacturing. Not for environmental restoration. Not for anything. Even if the water meets the quality standards. Even if it exceeds them. Even if it’s cleaner than what flows down the Rio Grande on a good day.

Think about the staggering absurdity of that: We live in a desert. We are in a megadrought. We have the technology to recycle billions of gallons.

And regulators have said, “No thanks, we’d rather inject it into oblivion.”

This is the kind of logic that should come with a surgeon general’s warning. Weapons-grade stupidity.

If we keep going down this path, New Mexico will be importing water the way we import avocados—expensively, reluctantly, and with endless political bickering. Maybe we can get a bulk discount from Wyoming. Or build a 600-mile pipeline from somewhere that still believes in science. California, perhaps—though by the time their permitting process is complete, we’ll all be speaking in dust.

Here’s the truth nobody on the anti-science circuit wants to admit:

If we treated and reused just a fraction of the produced water already coming out of New Mexico’s oilfields, the entire state would have a new, reliable, drought-resistant water supply.

A safety net. A backup plan. A path to survival.

But instead, we get fearmongering. Magical thinking. Ideology dressed in hemp clothing. A refusal to acknowledge water doesn’t care about your politics, your theories, or your favorite Facebook group.

So yes, I see stupid people. They’re fighting technology that works. They’re rejecting solutions supported by scientists, engineers, and every sober water expert in the Southwest. They’re shouting down the very thing that could keep New Mexico alive for the next century.

And while they panic about imaginary dangers, the real danger creeps closer:

A dry, cracked, empty future. We can clean this water. We can reuse this water. We can save this state. But only if we stop letting the stupid people set the rules.

John R Grizz Deal is the CEO of IX Water. IX Water is a spinout from Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Tech, the University of Texas, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Humor; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: crudeoil; democrats; domesticenemies; newmexico; opinion; producedwater; texas

[CedarDave]

Lengthy article about the truth about the use of treated oilfield water in New Mexico:
The opposition isn’t about protecting the environment—it’s about attacking the oil and gas industry at any cost. Even if that cost is the future of New Mexico.

[CedarDave]

Hobbs News-Sun is a subscription paper. However, this opinion piece was printed on the Viewpoint page and meant to be distributed and seen by all in the New Mexico community.

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[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Stripper wells produce more saline than crude.

[CedarDave]

True, and NM is tightening the screws on these small producers mostly operated by small independent operators.

[KarlInOhio]

You are under the belief that the water is merely chemically impure, which can be purified for other uses. This water has been made morally impure. No amount of filtering or distillation can remove the taint of the oil industry from the soul of the water. It is now eeeeevil! < /sarc>

[Da Coyote]

If one is too stupid for even an underwater Lesbian Dance major, they can always run for a DemocRAT position. As has been demonstrated, there are absolutely, positively NO standards whatsoever for the...uh...people holding those positions.

[Az Joe]

NM, run by Dems for decades, and is the poorest, most crime ridden state of the Pacific/SW/Mountain West states.

[CedarDave]

Excellent, bears repeating:

You are under the belief that the water is merely chemically impure, which can be purified for other uses. This water has been made morally impure. No amount of filtering or distillation can remove the taint of the oil industry from the soul of the water. It is now eeeeevil!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Born there, raised there. a great place to live and work in the 1950s and 1960s, even the early 1970s. Great schools!
Now it ranks below Mississippi and Arkansas in poorest schools.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I take it the people of New Mexico would rather drink the original water, ALKALI. We had it as well water in Farmington and Roswell. Nasty stuff!

[P-Marlowe]

Every molecule you’ve ever swallowed has been through a dinosaur’s kidneys, a Roman aqueduct, a medieval cesspit, a cow pasture, and probably the wrong end of a thousand septic tanks

Not exactly true. “New”water molecules are created by burning fossil fuels.

[reasonisfaith]

It’s called rain.

But let’s face it, “John R Grizz Deal,” you already failed the IQ test.

We’re not running out of water. I’ve been pushing back against this propaganda for twenty years.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Underwater Lesbian Dance Major

I believe the above description is the perfect candidate for the DEI Police Chief in many sanctuary city.

[FreedomPoster]

< golf clap >

Well played.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

"It’s called rain." -reasonisfaith

"The only reason it’s remotely drinkable today is because humans treat it. Filter it. Zap it. Scrub it like a crime scene until it’s safe to use again." - John R. Grizz Deal

I can understand trying to make an argument about water treatment, but there's no need to exaggerate and kill any truth you might have conveyed. I would imagine water has been naturally recycled on this planet for longer than almost anything it has ever done.

[Thrownatbirth]

NM is the first state completely ruined and corrupted by Californians.

[sauropod]

.

[reasonisfaith]

My argument wasn’t clearly stated. It has to do with the fact that the cabal and its media has been working for many years on their little scheme of scaring us about water. And that it’s disappearing.

“It’s called rain” is actually a quote from President Trump because of course, he gets it.