New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 15 - OIL AND GAS › Part 17 - PITS, CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEMS, BELOW-GRADE TANKS AND SUMPS › Section 19.15.17.7 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. "Alluvium" means
				detrital material that water or other erosional forces have transported and
				deposited at points along a watercourse's flood plain. It typically is composed
				of sands, silts and gravels; exhibits high porosity and permeability; and
				generally carries fresh water.
B.
				"Below-grade tank" means a vessel with greater than a five barrel capacity,
				excluding sumps and pressurized pipeline drip traps, installed within an
				excavation or buried below the surrounding ground surface's elevation.
				Below-grade tank does not include an above-ground storage tank that is located
				above or at the surrounding ground surface's elevation and is surrounded by
				berms.
C. "Closed-loop system"
				means a system that uses above ground steel tanks for the management of
				drilling fluids.
D. "Continuously
				flowing watercourse" means a river, stream or creek that is named or delineated
				by a solid blue line on a USGS quadrangle map having a scale factor of
				1:24,000, or an irrigation channel, or a water course that typically has water
				flowing during the majority of the days of the year. This does not include
				ephemeral washes, arroyos, and similar depressions that do not have flowing
				water during the majority of the days of the year.
E. "Division-approved facility" means a
				division-permitted surface waste management or injection facility, a facility
				permitted pursuant to 20.6.2 NMAC, a facility approved pursuant to 19.15.35.8
				NMAC or other facility that the division specifically approves for the
				particular purpose. The division shall not approve any facility not otherwise
				permitted unless it finds that the facility's use for the specified purpose
				will protect fresh water, public health and the environment and comply with
				other applicable federal or state statutes, federal regulations, state rules
				and local ordinances.
F. "Emergency
				pit" means a pit that is constructed during an emergency to contain a spill in
				the event of a release.
G.
				"Exception" means authorization from the division's Santa Fe office to depart
				from the requirements of 19.15.17 NMAC.
H. "Floodplain" means US army corps of
				engineers or FEMA documented 100-year floodplain.
I. "Life-form ratio" means the relative
				percentage of regionally native plant species in each of the following
				classifications: shrubs, forbs, and grasses.
J. "Low chloride fluids" means water-based
				fluids that contain less than 15,000 mg/liter of chlorides as determined by
				field or laboratory analysis.
K.
				"Measureable" means a layer of oil, the thickness of which is discernible by
				color cutting or other acceptable method.
L. "Multi-well fluid management pit" means a
				pit used for the storage, treatment and recycling of stimulation fluids and
				flow-back water during the drilling and completion of multiple wells.
				Multi-well fluid management pits may not be used for the disposal of drilling,
				completion or other waste. Multi-well fluid management pits may be located
				either onsite or offsite of a well drilling location and may remain in use
				until all wells with approved application for permit to drill that are
				identified in the pit permit are completed. Any addition of wells or extensions
				for permits to drill identified in the pit permit shall go to hearing. Any
				containment structure such as a pond, pit, or other impoundment that holds only
				fresh water that has not been treated for oil field purposes, is not a
				multi-well fluid management pit.
M.
				"Onsite" means within the boundaries of a single lease where exploration and
				production waste is generated.
N.
				"Permanent pit" means a pit used for collection, retention or storage of
				produced water or brine that is constructed with the conditions and for the
				duration provided in its permit, and is not a temporary pit.
O. "Restore" means to return a site to its
				former condition, in the manner and to the extent required by applicable
				provisions of 19.15.17 NMAC.
P.
				"Significant watercourse" means a watercourse with a defined bed and bank
				either named or identified by a dashed blue line on a USGS 7.5 minute
				quadrangle map or the next lower order tributary with a defined bed and bank of
				such watercourse.
Q. "Sump" means a
				subgrade impermeable vessel that is partially buried in the ground, is in
				contact with the ground surface, or is a collection device incorporated within
				a secondary containment system, which remains predominantly empty, serves as a
				drain or receptacle for de minimis releases on an intermittent basis and is not
				used to store, treat, dispose of or evaporate products or wastes. Buckets,
				pails, drip pans or similar vessels that are not in contact with the ground
				surface are not sumps.
R.
				"Temporary pit" means a pit, including a drilling or workover pit, which is
				constructed with the intent that the pit will hold liquids and mineral solids.
				Temporary pits may be used for one or more wells and must be located at one of
				the associated permitted well drilling locations. Temporary pits must be closed
				within six months from the date the operator releases the drilling or workover
				rig from the first well using the pit. Any containment structure such as a
				pond, pit, or other impoundment that holds only fresh water that has not been
				treated for oil field purposes, is not a temporary pit.
S. "Variance" means authorization from the
				appropriate division district office to depart from the requirements of
				19.15.17 NMAC. A variance may not be obtained where exceptions are required by
				a provision of 19.15.17 NMAC.
T.
				"Visible" when used with respect to oil on the surface of a pit means any
				amount of oil whether measurable or a sheen on the pit's liquid
				surface.