HOUSE BILL 222

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Andrea Romero and Jeff Steinborn and G. Andrés Romero

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT; REQUIRING DISCLOSURES OF CHEMICALS USED IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS AND DOWNHOLE OPERATIONS; PROHIBITING THE USE OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING FLUIDS, DRILLING FLUIDS AND PROPPANTS THAT CONTAIN PER- OR POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES; PROHIBITING THE USE OF CHEMICALS IN DOWNHOLE OPERATIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN DISCLOSED; PRESCRIBING PENALTIES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 70-2-33 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1935, Chapter 72, Section 24, as amended) is amended to read:

     "70-2-33. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Oil and Gas Act:

          A. "person" means:

                (1) any individual, estate, trust, receiver, cooperative association, club, corporation, company, firm, partnership, joint venture, syndicate or other entity; or

                (2) the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof or the state or any political subdivision thereof;

          B. "pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. Each zone of a general structure, which zone is completely separate from any other zone in the structure, is covered by the word "pool" as used in the Oil and Gas Act. "Pool" is synonymous with "common source of supply" and with "common reservoir";

          C. "field" means the general area that is underlaid or appears to be underlaid by at least one pool and also includes the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing the crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. The words "field" and "pool" mean the same thing when only one underground reservoir is involved; however, "field", unlike "pool", may relate to two or more pools;

          D. "product" means any commodity or thing made or manufactured from crude petroleum oil or natural gas and all derivatives of crude petroleum oil or natural gas, including refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, treated crude oil, fuel oil, residuum, gas oil, naphtha, distillate, gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, lubricating oil and blends or mixtures of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or any derivative thereof;

          E. "owner" means the person who has the right to drill into and to produce from any pool and to appropriate the production either for the person or for the person and another;

          F. "producer" means the owner of a well capable of producing oil or natural gas or both in paying quantities;

          G. "gas transportation facility" means a pipeline in operation serving gas wells for the transportation of natural gas or some other device or equipment in like operation whereby natural gas produced from gas wells connected therewith can be transported or used for consumption;

          H. "correlative rights" means the opportunity afforded, so far as it is practicable to do so, to the owner of each property in a pool to produce without waste the owner's just and equitable share of the oil or gas or both in the pool, being an amount, so far as can be practicably determined and so far as can be practicably obtained without waste, substantially in the proportion that the quantity of recoverable oil or gas or both under the property bears to the total recoverable oil or gas or both in the pool and, for such purpose, to use the owner's just and equitable share of the reservoir energy;

          I. "potash" means the naturally occurring bedded deposits of the salts of the element potassium;

          J. "casinghead gas" means any gas or vapor or both indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from such stratum with oil, including any residue gas remaining after the processing of casinghead gas to remove its liquid components;

          K. "produced water" means a fluid that is an incidental byproduct from drilling for or the production of oil and gas;

          L. "commission" means the oil conservation commission; [and]

          M. "division" means the oil conservation division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department;

          N. "additive" means a chemical or combination of chemicals added to a base fluid for use in a hydraulic fracturing treatment and includes proppants;

          O. "base fluid" means the continuous phase fluid type, such as water, used in a hydraulic fracturing treatment;

          P. "direct vendor" means a distributor, supplier or other entity that sells or supplies a chemical product directly to an operator;

          Q. "downhole operation" means oil and gas operations that are conducted underground;

          R. "hydraulic fracturing fluid" means the fluid, including any base fluid and additives, used to perform a hydraulic fracturing treatment;

          S. "intentionally added" means a per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance deliberately added during the manufacture of a product where the continued presence of the per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substance is desired in the final product or one of the product's components to perform a specific function;

          T. "operator" means a person authorized by the division to operate a unit for an oil or gas well or other oil or gas facility;

          U. "per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance" means a substance in a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom;

          V. "proppant" means a material added to a hydraulic fracturing treatment to prevent the fractures created by the treatment from closing; and

          W. "service company" means an entity that provides products or services to an operator."

     SECTION 2. A new section of the Oil and Gas Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES IN DOWNHOLE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS--RULES--CIVIL PENALTY.--

          A. An operator shall not use a hydraulic fracturing fluid, drilling fluid, proppant or other additive that contains an intentionally added per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance in downhole operations.

          B. The commission may adopt rules to carry out the provisions of this section.

          C. The provisions of this section do not apply to a product for which federal law governs the presence of a per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance in the product in a manner that preempts state authority.

          D. A person that violates a provision of this section may be assessed a civil penalty for a first violation not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), and for each subsequent violation, a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the current school fund."

     SECTION 3. A new section of the Oil and Gas Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] HYDRAULIC FRACTURING DISCLOSURES--NON-HYDRAULIC FRACTURING DISCLOSURES--PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF UNDISCLOSED CHEMICALS IN DOWNHOLE OPERATIONS--RULES.--

          A. The division shall not issue a permit to drill an oil and gas well to an operator or authorize any downhole operations until the operator has completed and filed a downhole chemical disclosure.

          B. An operator that has been issued a permit to drill by the division as of July 1, 2025 shall make the disclosures required by this section on or before August 1, 2025.

          C. The downhole chemical disclosure required by this section shall include:

                (1) a description of the well and its location;

                (2) the total volume of water used or expected to be used in the operator's hydraulic fracturing treatment of the well or the type and total volume of base fluids expected to be used in the treatment, if something other than water;

                (3) each additive used or expected to be used in the operator's drilling, hydraulic fracturing or other downhole operation of the well, including the trade name, the supplier and a brief description of the intended use of function of each additive;

                (4) each chemical ingredient used or expected to be used in the operator's hydraulic fracturing, drilling or other downhole treatment of the well;

                (5) the actual or maximum concentration of each chemical listed in Paragraph (4) of this subsection in percent by mass; and

                (6) the chemical abstracts service number of each chemical listed in Paragraph (4) of this subsection, if applicable.

          D. A manufacturer, direct vendor or service company shall share information with the operator necessary to comply with this section at the request of the operator.

          E. If there is a change to the information in the downhole chemical disclosure required by this section, an operator shall submit any changes to the information to the division within thirty days of knowledge of a change.

          F. An operator shall not use a chemical in a downhole operation that the operator has not disclosed pursuant to this section or rules adopted pursuant to this section. An operator shall file a certification with the division that the operator has not used chemicals that have not been disclosed pursuant to this section or rules adopted pursuant to this section within forty-five days after completion of the downhole operation.

          G. If the national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website developed by the ground water protection council and the interstate oil and gas compact commission is inoperable or does not exist, an operator may comply with the provisions of this section by submitting the disclosures required by this section to a publicly accessible website or to the division, as specified by the division.

          H. The division shall adopt rules to require operators to make chemical disclosures for non-hydraulic fracturing downhole operations to the division. The non-hydraulic fracturing disclosures shall be made accessible to the public.

          I. The division may make rules necessary to carry out the provisions of this section."

     SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.

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