New Mexico State Engineer threatens to revoke licenses of companies that dug wells for border wall

The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer on Tuesday announced it had formally threatened the licenses of two well-drilling companies that are helping federal agencies construct a border wall along New Mexico’s shared border with Mexico. 

State officials documented multiple “unauthorized” wells in protected underground water basins, according to a news release from the office, as well as potential safety violations, including one that created an “imminent risk of groundwater contamination.”

The office alleges the companies drilled the unauthorized wells within the Mimbres, Hachita and Lower Rio Grande water basins. Some of the wells exist within the boundaries of the Roosevelt Reservation, a buffer zone along the border that recently became a militarized zone. State officials encountered “limited cooperation” when trying to inspect that area, according to the news release.

Ranchers along the border have complained about the wells’ potential impacts on the area’s limited water supply, according to recent media reports and elected officials in the area. On Monday, according to a news release from New Mexico House Republicans, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency agreed to stop drilling new wells and seek alternative water sources after lawmakers raised concerns. 

Officials from the federal border agency did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment Tuesday.  A spokesperson told the Albuquerque Journal that water from the wells is needed for concrete, dust suppression and road construction, and the agency is developing a “broader groundwater management strategy” after instructing its contractor to cease drilling new wells. 

State officials said Tuesday they’d issued formal “Notices of Violation” to two subcontractors, Wyatt Drilling Arizona, LLC, and Cascade Drilling, LP. Both companies face civil penalties of up to $3,400 a day for each violation. The office will also revoke their state well driller’s licenses if the companies do not correct their violations within 30 days. 

Both companies must submit plans to plug the wells within that period and “remediate the wells to the state’s satisfaction” to keep their licenses. 

An employee at Cascade Drilling, which is based in Peoria, Arizona, declined to comment when Source NM called seeking comment Tuesday afternoon. 

A man who identified himself as the owner of Wyatt Drilling told Source NM that he had not received the violation as of Tuesday but was generally aware of the controversy surrounding the wells. He confirmed his last name as Wyatt but refused to confirm his first name. 

State records list the owner of Wyatt Drilling as Vincent Wyatt and note he first received a New Mexico well driller’s license in April 2025. 

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Wyatt said he was unaware he might have been violating state regulations. 

“I was just doing what I was asked to do as a subcontractor on the job,” he said, before declining to comment further. 

State Engineer Elizabeth K. Anderson said the office’s permitting code exists to protect groundwater supplies for New Mexicans. 

“We enforce it rigorously,” she said in a statement. “When outside operators show up in New Mexico and drill without a permit on federal land, it can threaten the livelihoods of New Mexicans, and we’re not going to tolerate it.”