2006 New Mexico Statutes - Section 74-6B-3 — Definitions.

74-6B-3. Definitions.

As used in the Ground Water Protection Act [ 74-6B-1 NMSA 1978]:   

A.     "above ground storage tank" means a single tank or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that are 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 or heating oil for noncommercial purposes;   

(2)     pipeline facility, including gathering lines that are regulated under the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979, or that is an intrastate pipeline facility regulated under state laws comparable to either act;   

(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 the oil field service industry operations;   

(7)     tank associated with an emergency generator system;   

(8)     pipes connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (8) 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 their 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" means:   

(1)     in the case of a storage tank in use or brought into use on or after November 8, 1984, a person who owns the storage tank; and   

(2)     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;   

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 combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that are 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 or heating oil for noncommercial purposes;   

(2)     septic tank;   

(3)     pipeline facility, including gathering lines regulated under the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979, or that is an intrastate pipeline facility regulated under state laws comparable to either act;   

(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 associated with an emergency generator system;   

(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.