NM Mexico Tech Study Sandridge Staff report and NM tech Agreements
Our Position Statement on the NM Tech Study
There are two parts to it: 1) primary goal to locate oil and gas resources that can be explored in the county; and 2) assessment of impacts to nearby aquifers. So they are looking at aquifers in a limited way, not like a hydrological assessment would but just in terms of limitations on oil and gas exploration posed by aquifers and geology in general if that makes sense. It would help to identify areas where oil and gas exploration would pass through aquifers or nearby and the relative depths of aquifers and oil/gas wells in relation to one another is an important factor in whether damage could be caused to water resources and how high that risk is. Interestingly though there is no mention of surface water supplies which the EPA also mentioned are at just as high, if not a higher risk of contamination from fracking specifically, which tells us that the goal was not to protect water resources but just to account for whether they would impede oil and gas exploration.
In the link above the NM TECH Study and the Staff report on Sandridge permit application under special use. When one reads the staff report we see a 180-degree position change when Commissioner Chapman became chair.