A New Mexico Senate bill that would place a four-year moratorium on new permits for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, passed its first committee Feb. 13 and is now closer to becoming law.
Senate Bill 149 passed the Senate Conservation Committee on a 5-4 vote and was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for the further discussion and a second vote.
Sponsored by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, the bill was intended to halt new fracking operations to allow environmental officials and lawmakers to study its environmental impact.
She introduced similar legislation that died in committee during the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions.
The fracking process, in which a combination of water, sand and chemicals is pumped underground to break deep shale deposits so crude oil and natural gas can be brought to the surface.