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

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.