New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE
Chapter 15 - OIL AND GAS
Part 30 - REMEDIATION
Section 19.15.30.9 - ABATEMENT STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS

Universal Citation: 19 NM Admin Code 19.15.30.9

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 24, December 23, 2024

A. The responsible person shall abate the vadose zone so that water contaminants in the vadose zone will not with reasonable probability contaminate ground water or surface water, in excess of the standards in Subsections B and C of 19.15.30.9 NMAC, through leaching, percolation or other transport mechanisms, or as the water table elevation fluctuates.

B. The responsible person shall abate ground-water pollution at a place of withdrawal for present or reasonably foreseeable future use, where the TDS concentration is 10,000 mg/l or less, to conform to the following standards:

(1) toxic pollutants as defined in 20.6.2.7 NMAC shall not be present; and

(2) the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC shall be met.

C. The responsible person shall abate surface-water pollution to conform to the water quality standards for interstate and intrastate surface waters in New Mexico, 20.6.4 NMAC.

D. The division shall not consider subsurface-water and surface-water abatement complete until eight consecutive quarterly samples, or an alternate lesser number of samples the director approves, from the compliance sampling stations the director approved meet the abatement standards in Subsections A, B and C of 19.15.30.9 NMAC. The division shall consider abatement of water contaminants measured in solid-matrix samples of the vadose zone complete after one-time sampling from compliance stations the director approves.

E. Technical infeasibility.

(1) If a responsible person is unable to meet the abatement standards set forth in Subsections A and B of 19.15.30.9 NMAC using commercially accepted abatement technology pursuant to an approved abatement plan, the responsible person may propose that abatement standards compliance is technically infeasible.
(a) The director may consider technical infeasibility proposals involving the use of experimental abatement technology.

(b) The responsible person may demonstrate technical infeasibility by a statistically valid extrapolation of the decrease in concentrations of a water contaminant over the remainder of a 20 year period, such that projected future reductions during that time would be less than 20 percent of the concentration at the time the responsible person proposes technical infeasibility. A statistically valid decrease cannot be demonstrated by fewer than eight consecutive quarters.

(c) The technical infeasibility proposal shall include a substitute abatement standard for those contaminants that is technically feasible. The responsible person shall meet abatement standards for other water contaminants not demonstrated to be technically infeasible.

(2) The director shall not approve a proposed technical infeasibility demonstration for a water contaminant if its concentration is greater than 200 percent of the abatement standard for the contaminant.

(3) If the director cannot approve any or all portions of a proposed technical infeasibility demonstration because the water contaminant concentration is greater than 300 percent of the abatement standard for each contaminant, the responsible person may further pursue the issue of technical infeasibility by filing a petition with the division seeking approval of alternate abatement standards pursuant to Subsection F of 19.15.30.9 NMAC.

F. Alternative abatement standards.

(1) At any time during or after the stage 2 abatement plan's submission, the responsible person may file a petition seeking approval of alternative abatement standards for the standards set forth in Subsections A and B of 19.15.30.9 NMAC. The division may approve alternative abatement standards if the petitioner demonstrates that:
(a) either compliance with the abatement standards is not feasible, by the maximum use of technology within the responsible person's economic capability; or there is no reasonable relationship between the economic and social costs and benefits, including attainment of the standards set forth in 19.15.30.9 NMAC to be obtained;

(b) the proposed alternative abatement standards are technically achievable and cost-benefit justifiable; and

(c) compliance with the proposed alternative abatement standard will not create a present or future hazard to public health or undue damage to property.

(2) The responsible person shall file a written petition with the division's environmental bureau chief. The petition may include a transport, fate and risk assessment in accordance with accepted methods, and other information as the petitioner deems necessary to support the petition. The petition shall:
(a) state the petitioner's name and address;

(b) state the date of the petition;

(c) describe the facility or activity for which the petitioner seeks the alternate abatement standards;

(d) state the address or description of the property upon which the facility is located;

(e) describe the water body or watercourse the release affected;

(f) identify the abatement standard from which petitioner wishes to vary;

(g) state why the petitioner believes that compliance with 19.15.30 NMAC will impose an unreasonable burden upon the petitioner's activity;

(h) identify the water contaminant for which the petitioner proposes the alternative standard;

(i) state the alternative standard the petitioner proposes;

(j) identify the three-dimensional body of water pollution for which the petitioner seeks approval; and

(k) state the extent to which the abatement standards set forth in 19.15.30.9 NMAC are now, and will in the future be, violated.

(3) The division's environmental bureau chief shall review the petition and, within 60 days after receiving the petition, submit a written recommendation to the director to approve, approve subject to conditions or disapprove any or all of the proposed alternative abatement standards. The recommendation shall include the reasons for the division's environmental bureau chief's recommendation. The division's environmental bureau chief shall submit a copy of the recommendation to the petitioner by certified mail.

(4) If the division's environmental bureau chief recommends approval, or approval subject to conditions, of any or all of the proposed alternative abatement standards, the division shall hold a public hearing on those standards. If the division's environmental bureau chief recommends disapproval of any or all of the proposed alternative abatement standards, the petitioner may submit a request to the director, within 15 days after the recommendation's receipt, for a public hearing on those standards. If the petitioner does not submit a timely request for hearing, the recommended disapproval shall become a final decision of the director and shall not be subject to review.

(5) If the director grants a public hearing, the division shall conduct the hearing in accordance with division hearing procedures.

(6) Based on the record of the public hearing, the division shall approve, approve subject to condition or disapprove any or all of the proposed alternative abatement standards. The division shall notify the petitioner by certified mail of its decision and the reasons for the decision.

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