N.M. Admin. Code § 19.11.1.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 19.11.1.7 - DEFINITIONS

These definitions apply to 19.11.1 through 19.11.4 NMAC. See Section 71-9-3 NMSA 1978 (2016) for the definitions of "correlative rights", "division", "geothermal reservoir", "geothermal resources" and "person".

A.Definitions beginning with the letter "A".

(1)"Act" means the Geothermal Resources Development Act, Section 71-9-1 et seq. NMSA 1978 (2016).

(2)"Affected person" means a person having a property interest, water right or geothermal resource interest (correlative right) within the public notice area specified in Subsection B of 19.11.2.13 NMAC.

(3)"Applicant" means any person who applies with the division for a permit to construct, modify or operate a well or facility used for the exploration, development or production of geothermal resources.

(4)"Annular space" means the space between the walls of the well as drilled and the casing or between a permanent casing and the borehole.

(5)"ASL" means above sea level.

B.Definitions beginning with the letter "B".

(1)"Blowout" means an uncontrolled escape of liquids or gases, or both, from a geothermal well.

(2)"Blowout prevention equipment" means equipment that is designed to be attached to the casing in a geothermal well to prevent a blowout.

(3)"BOPE" means blowout prevention equipment.

C.Definitions beginning with the letter "C".

(1)"Casing" means the conduit required to prevent waste and contamination of the ground water, the geothermal resource or both, and to hold the formation open during the well's construction or use.

(2)"Closed-loop system" as used in 19.11.4 NMAC means a system that uses above ground tanks for the management of drilling fluids.

(3)"Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water.

D.Definitions beginning with the letter "D".

(1)"Department" means the energy, minerals and natural resources department.

(2)"Director" means the director of the energy conservation and management division of the department.

(3)"Drilling operations" means the actual drilling, re-drilling, completion or recompletion of a well for exploration, observation, production or injection including the running and cementing of casing, the performance of such operations as logging and perforating and the installation of pumps and well-head equipment.

E.Definitions beginning with the letter "E".

(1)"EPA" means the United States environmental protection agency.

(2)"Exploratory well" means a well drilled for the discovery or evaluation of geothermal resources either in an identified geothermal reservoir or in unexplored areas.

F.Definitions beginning with the letter "F"."Fresh water" means the water in lakes and playas (regardless of quality, unless the water exceeds 10,000 mg/l TDS and it can be shown that degradation of the water body will not adversely affect hydrologically connected ground water), the surface waters of streams regardless of the water quality within a given reach and ground water that has an existing concentration of 10,000 mg/l or less.

G.Definitions beginning with the letter "G"."GRCA" means the Geothermal Resources Conservation Act, Section 71-5-1 et seq. NMSA 1978.

H.Definitions beginning with the letter "H".[RESERVED]

I.Definitions beginning with the letter "I"."Injection well" means any well employed for injecting material into a geothermal area or adjacent area to maintain pressures in a geothermal reservoir, pool or other source, or to provide new material to serve as a material medium therein, or for reinjecting any material medium (including fluids) or the residue thereof, or any by-product of geothermal resource exploration or development into the earth.

J.Definitions beginning with the letter "J".[RESERVED]

K.Definitions beginning with the letter "K".[RESERVED]

L.Definitions beginning with the letter "L"."LLDPE" means linear low-density polyethylene.

M.Definitions beginning with the letter "M".

(1)"Material medium" means any substance including, but not limited to, naturally heated fluids, brines, associated gases and steam in whatever form, found at any depth and in any position below the surface of the earth, which contains or transmits the natural heat energy of the earth, but excluding petroleum, oil, hydrocarbon gas or other hydrocarbon substances.

(2)"Mg/l" means milligrams per liter.

(3)"Mg/kg" means milligrams per kilogram.

(4)"MIT" means mechanical integrity test.

(5)"Monitoring well" means, for purposes of 19.11.4 NMAC, any well used to observe the level of the water and its temperature, pressure and chemistry in a shallow protected water aquifer above or near a potential geothermal resource.

N.Definitions beginning with the letter "N"."Notice" means, for purposes of 19.11.4 NMAC, a written statement to the division that the permittee intends to do work.

O.Definitions beginning with the letter "O". "Observation well" means any well used to observe the level of the water and its temperature, pressure and chemistry in an area of potential geothermal resource. This includes a thermal gradient well.

P.Definitions beginning with the letter "P".

(1)"Permittee" means the person issued a permit by the director, or a person required to have a permit pursuant to 19.11.2 NMAC including a person who is required to have a permit but has not applied for or obtained a permit. The permittee shall be the owner of the geothermal lease or geothermal interest and any well(s) or facility located upon the geothermal lease or interest or the operator of the geothermal facility if it is someone other than the owner of the geothermal lease or interest.

(2)"Pit" means a drilling, workover or blow-down pit, which is constructed with the intent that the pit will hold liquids and mineral solids. Pits may be used for one or more wells and must be located at one of the associated permitted well drilling locations or surface facilities. Any containment structure such as a pond or other impoundment that holds only fresh water that has not been treated for drilling, workover or blow-down purposes is not a pit.

(3)"Production well" means a well which is used to transmit fluids derived from a geothermal resource to the surface where the fluids are available for industrial, commercial or domestic purposes.

Q.Definitions beginning with the letter "Q".[RESERVED]

R.Definitions beginning with the letter "R"."Responsible official" means a corporate officer (president, secretary, treasurer or vice president), general partner or proprietor or public principal executive officer or elected official who is authorized to execute documents on behalf of the corporation, entity or office.

S.Definitions beginning with the letter "S".

(1)"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 geothermal wastes. Buckets, pails, drip pans or similar vessels that are not in contact with the ground surface are not sumps.

(2)"Suspension of operations" means the cessation of drilling, re-drilling or alteration of casing before the well is officially abandoned or completed.

T.Definitions beginning with the letter "T"."TDS" means total dissolved solids.

U.Definitions beginning with the letter "U".

(1)"UIC" means Underground Injection Control.

(2)"UTM" means Universal Transverse Mercator.

V.Definitions beginning with the letter "V".[RESERVED]

W.Definitions beginning with the letter "W".

(1)"Waste" means any physical waste including, but not limited to:

(a) underground waste resulting from inefficient, excessive or improper use, or dissipation of geothermal energy, or of any geothermal resource pool, reservoir or other source; or the locating, spacing, constructing, equipping, operating or producing of any well in a manner that results, or tends to result, in reducing the quantity of geothermal energy to be recovered from any geothermal area; or

(b) the inefficient above-ground transporting and storage of geothermal energy; and the locating, spacing, equipping, operating or producing of any well or injection well in a manner causing or tending to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of geothermal energy; the escape into the open air from a well of steam or hot water that exceeds what is reasonably necessary in the efficient development or production of a well.

(2)"Well" means, (a) a bored, drilled or driven shaft; (b) a dug hole whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension; (c) an improved sinkhole; or (d) a subsurface fluid distribution system.

N.M. Admin. Code § 19.11.1.7

Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXIX, Issue 04, February 27, 2018, eff. 2/27/2018