© Reuters. People walk at Dubai’s Expo City during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 4, 2023. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
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By Valerie Volcovici
DUBAI (Reuters) – The U.S. state of New Mexico on Tuesday used the COP28 talks in Dubai to announce a plan to divert wastewater from the oil and gas industry to water-intensive clean energy projects such as electric vehicle and solar manufacturing.
New Mexico is the second-biggest oil and gas producing state, behind Texas, and it brings enormous amounts of water to the surface, most of which is put back underground, as it produces oil and gas.
Diverting some of the water to manufacturing could take pressure off the arid state’s dwindling water supplies, and also relieve its reinjection wells, which researchers say are at risk of filling and triggering earthquakes.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told Reuters in an interview she was launching the program, described as a first of its kind, at the climate talks to inspire other countries with similar issues.
“If we do it, it will happen other places,” she said.
She said she has had conversations with…
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