2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 74 - Environmental Improvement › Article 6B - Ground Water Protection › Section 74-6B-3 - Definitions.

As used in the Ground Water Protection Act:
A. "above ground storage tank" means a single tank or a combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that is used to contain petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure of sixty degrees Fahrenheit and fourteen and seven-tenths pounds per square inch absolute, and the volume of which is more than ninety percent above the surface of the ground. The term does not include any:
(1) farm, ranch or residential tank used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
(2) pipeline facility, including gathering lines, that is regulated under Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code or that is an intrastate pipeline facility regulated under state laws as provided in Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code and that is determined by the United States secretary of transportation to be connected to a pipeline, or to be operated or intended to be capable of operating at pipeline pressure or as an integral part of a pipeline;
(3) surface impoundment, pit, pond or lagoon;
(4) storm water or wastewater collection system;
(5) flow-through process tank;
(6) liquid trap, tank or associated gathering lines or other storage methods or devices related to oil, gas or mining exploration, production, transportation, refining, processing or storage, or oil field service industry operations;
(7) tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(8) pipes connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (7) of this subsection; or
(9) tanks or related pipelines and facilities owned or used by a refinery, natural gas processing plant or pipeline company in the regular course of its refining, processing or pipeline business;
B. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
C. "corrective action" means an action taken in accordance with rules of the board to investigate, minimize, eliminate or clean up a release to protect the public health, safety and welfare or the environment;
D. "department" means the department of environment;
E. "operator" means any person in control of or having responsibility for the daily operation of a storage tank;
F. "owner":
(1) means:
(a) in the case of a storage tank in use or brought into use on or after November 8, 1984, a person who owns a storage tank used for storage, use or dispensing of regulated substances; and
(b) in the case of a storage tank in use before November 8, 1984 but no longer in use after that date, a person who owned the tank immediately before the discontinuation of its use; and
(2) excludes, for purposes of tank registration requirements only, a person who:
(a) had an underground storage tank taken out of operation on or before January 1, 1974;
(b) had an underground storage tank taken out of operation after January 1, 1974 and removed from the ground prior to November 8, 1984; or
(c) had an above ground storage tank taken out of operation on or before July 1, 2001;
G. "person" means an individual or any legal entity, including all governmental entities;
H. "regulated substance" means:
(1) a substance defined in Section 101(14) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, but not including a substance regulated as a hazardous waste under Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976; and
(2) petroleum, including crude oil or a fraction thereof, that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure of sixty degrees Fahrenheit and fourteen and seven-tenths pounds per square inch absolute;
I. "release" means a spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing from a storage tank into ground water, surface water or subsurface soils in amounts exceeding twenty-five gallons;
J. "secretary" means the secretary of environment;
K. "site" means a place where there is or was at a previous time one or more storage tanks and may include areas contiguous to the actual location or previous location of the tanks;
L. "storage tank" means an above ground storage tank or an underground storage tank; and
M. "underground storage tank" means a single tank or a combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that is used to contain an accumulation of regulated substances and the volume of which, including the volume of the underground pipes connected thereto, is ten percent or more beneath the surface of the ground. The term does not include any:
(1) farm, ranch or residential tank of one thousand one hundred gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
(2) septic tank;
(3) pipeline facility, including gathering lines, that is regulated under Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code or that is an intrastate pipeline facility regulated under state laws as provided in Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code and that is determined by the United States secretary of transportation to be connected to a pipeline, or to be operated or intended to be capable of operating at pipeline pressure or as an integral part of a pipeline;
(4) surface impoundment, pit, pond or lagoon;
(5) storm water or wastewater collection system;
(6) flow-through process tank;
(7) liquid trap, tank or associated gathering lines directly related to oil or gas production and gathering operations;
(8) storage tank situated in an underground area, such as a basement, cellar, mineworking drift, shaft or tunnel, if the storage tank is situated upon or above the surface of the undesignated floor;
(9) tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(10) tank exempted by rule of the board after finding that the type of tank is adequately regulated under another federal or state law; or
(11) pipes connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (10) of this subsection.
History:
Laws 1990, ch. 124, § 3; 1992, ch. 64, § 2; 1993, ch. 298, § 3; 2001, ch. 325, § 13; 2010, ch. 27, § 3; 2018, ch. 11, § 3.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For Section 101(14) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980,
see
42 U.S.C.§ 9601(14).
For Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976,
see
42 U.S.C.S. §§ 6921 to 6931.
The 2018 amendment,
effective May 16, 2018, amended the Ground Water Protection Act to conform the definitions of "above ground storage tank" and "underground storage tank" to comply with federal law; in Paragraph A(2), after "regulated under", deleted "the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979" and added "Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code", after "under state laws", deleted "comparable to either act" and added the remainder of the paragraph; and in Subsection M(3), after "regulated under", deleted "the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979" and added "Chapter 601 of Title 49 of the United States Code", and after "under state laws", deleted "comparable to either act" and added the remainder of the paragraph.
The 2010 amendment,
effective May 19, 2010, in Subsection A(1), after "storing motor fuel" deleted "or heating oil"; in Subsection A(7), after "tank", deleted "associated with an emergency generator system" and added the remainder of the sentence; in Subsection A(8), after "Paragraphs (1) through", deleted "(8)" and added "(7)"; in Subsection F(1)(a), after "person who owns a storage tank", added "used for storage, use or dispensing of regulated substances"; added Paragraph (2) of Subsection F; in Subsection H(1), after "Section 101(14) of the", added "federal" and after "Subtitle C of the", added "federal"; in Subsection M(1), after "storing motor fuel" deleted "or heating oil"; and in Subsection M(9), after "tank", deleted "associated with an emergency generator system" and added the remainder of the sentence.
The 2001 amendment,
effective July 1, 2001, deleted "underground" preceding "storage tank" throughout the section; added Subsection A; redesignated former Subsections A to J as B to K; inserted "in accordance with rules of the board" in current Subsection C; deleted "used for the storage, use or dispensing of regulated substances" at the end of current Paragraph F(1); added Subsection L; redesignated former Subsection K as M; deleted the citations to the acts noted in current Paragraph M(3); inserted "tank" in Paragraph M(7); added current Paragraphs M(9) and (10); redesignated former Paragraph K(9) as M(11); updated the internal designations; and made stylistic changes.
The 1993 amendment,
effective April 7, 1993, deleted "while it is" after "storage tank" in Paragraph (1) of Subsection E and inserted "of 1976" in Paragraph (1) of Subsection G.
The 1992 amendment,
effective March 9, 1992, rewrote Subsection C which formerly read: " 'division' means the environmental improvement division of the health and environment department"; added present Subsection I; redesignated former Subsections I and J as present Subsections J and K; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— Determination whether substance is "hazardous substance" within meaning of § 101(14) of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 USCS § 9601(14)), 118 A.L.R. Fed. 293.
Private entity's status as owner or operator under § 107 (a)(1,2) of Comprehensive Environmental Response, and Liability Act (42 USCS § 9607 (a)(1,2)) (CERCLA), 140 A.L.R. Fed. 181.
What constitutes "facility" within meaning of § 101(9) of the Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 USCA § 9601(9)), 147 A.L.R. Fed. 469.