HOUSE BILL 157
50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011
INTRODUCED BY
Al Park
AN ACT
RELATING TO EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION; CREATING THE NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT; REPLACING THE ENERGY, MINERALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND THE NATURAL RESOURCES TRUSTEE; PROVIDING POWERS AND DUTIES; CONSOLIDATING CERTAIN REGULATORY BOARDS; CHANGING THE DEPOSIT OF FINES FROM SPECIAL FUNDS TO THE GENERAL FUND FOR CREDIT TO THE CURRENT SCHOOL FUND; TRANSFERRING FUNCTIONS, APPROPRIATIONS, MONEY, PROPERTY, CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND STATUTORY REFERENCES; REPEALING THE ENERGY, MINERALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT ACT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT ACT; AMENDING, REPEALING AND ENACTING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978; RECONCILING MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO SECTIONS OF LAW IN LAWS 2000.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Sections 1 through 16 of this act may be cited as the "Natural Resources and Environment Department Act".
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] PURPOSE.--The purpose of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act is to establish a single, unified department to administer laws and exercise functions formerly administered and exercised by the energy, minerals and natural resources department, the department of environment and the natural resources trustee.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act:
A. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
B. "department" means the natural resources and environment department; and
C. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment.
SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] DEPARTMENT CREATED.--
A. The "natural resources and environment department" is created as a cabinet department and includes the following organizational units:
(1) the office of the secretary;
(2) the administrative services division;
(3) the information technology division;
(4) the environmental protection division;
(5) the energy conservation and management division;
(6) the forestry division;
(7) the mining and minerals division;
(8) the oil conservation division;
(9) the state parks division;
(10) the water and waste management division;
(11) the environmental health division; and
(12) the water and wastewater infrastructure development division.
B. The secretary may establish, merge or eliminate organizational units for better efficiency or effectiveness, but a reorganization of statutory divisions or bureaus shall be reported to the next regular session of the legislature.
SECTION 5. [NEW MATERIAL] ADMINISTRATIVELY ATTACHED AGENCIES.--The following boards, commissions, committees and councils are administratively attached to the department:
A. the environmental improvement board;
B. the mining commission;
C. the natural lands protection committee;
D. the oil conservation commission;
E. the radiation technical advisory council;
F. the water quality control commission; and
G. the New Mexico youth conservation corps commission.
SECTION 6. [NEW MATERIAL] SECRETARY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT--APPOINTMENT.--
A. The administrative head of the natural resources and environment department is the "secretary of natural resources and environment", who shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate and who shall serve in the executive cabinet.
B. An appointed secretary shall serve and have all of the duties, responsibilities and authority of that office during the period of time prior to final action by the senate confirming or rejecting the appointment.
SECTION 7. DUTIES AND GENERAL POWERS.--
A. The secretary is responsible to the governor for the operation of the department. It is the secretary's duty to manage all operations of the department and to administer and enforce the laws with which the secretary or the department is charged.
B. To perform the duties, the secretary has every power expressly enumerated in the laws, whether granted to the secretary, the department or any division of the department, except where authority conferred upon any division is explicitly exempt from the secretary's authority by statute. In accordance with these provisions, the secretary shall:
(1) except as otherwise provided in the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act, exercise general supervisory and appointing authority over all department employees, subject to any applicable personnel laws and rules;
(2) delegate authority to subordinates as the secretary deems necessary and appropriate, clearly delineating that delegated authority and the limitations thereto;
(3) organize the department into those organizational units that the secretary deems will enable it to function most efficiently, subject to any provisions of law requiring or establishing specific organizational units;
(4) within the limitations of available appropriations and applicable laws, employ and fix the compensation of those persons necessary to discharge the duties of the department;
(5) take administrative action by issuing orders and instructions, consistent with the law, to assure implementation of and compliance with the provisions of law for which administration or execution the department or the secretary is responsible and to enforce those orders and instructions by appropriate administrative action or actions in the courts;
(6) conduct research and studies that will improve the operations of the department and the provision of services to the residents of the state;
(7) provide courses of instruction and practical training for employees of the department and other persons involved in the administration of programs with the objective of improving the operations and efficiency of administration;
(8) prepare an annual budget of the department; and
(9) appoint, with the governor's consent, a "director" for each division. These appointed positions are exempt from the provisions of the Personnel Act. Persons appointed to these positions shall serve at the pleasure of the secretary.
C. The secretary may apply for and receive, with the governor's approval and in the name of the department, any public or private funds, including United States government funds, available to the department to carry out its programs, duties or services.
D. The secretary may adopt such reasonable rules as necessary to carry out the duties of the department and its divisions. No rule promulgated by the director of any division in carrying out the functions and duties of the division shall be effective until approved by the secretary, unless otherwise provided by statute. Unless otherwise provided by statute, no procedural rules affecting any person or agency outside the department shall be adopted, amended or repealed without a public hearing on the proposed action before the secretary or a hearing officer designated by the secretary. The public hearing shall be held in Santa Fe unless otherwise permitted by statute. Notice of the subject matter of the rule, the action proposed to be taken, the time and place of the hearing, the manner in which interested persons may present their views and the method by which copies of the proposed rule, proposed amendment or repeal of an existing rule may be obtained shall be published once at least thirty days prior to the hearing date in a newspaper of general circulation and mailed at least thirty days prior to the hearing date to all persons who have made a written request for advance notice of hearing. All rules shall be filed in accordance with the State Rules Act.
SECTION 8. [NEW MATERIAL] DEPARTMENT--ADDITIONAL DUTIES.--The department shall develop a comprehensive watershed restoration strategy that sets guidelines for coordination with state and federal land management agencies and political subdivisions, including the soil and water conservation districts and other stakeholders. The strategy shall focus on removing the overabundance of woody vegetation, particularly non-native species of phreatophytes, that consume excessive amounts of water and on reestablishing the natural ecology of New Mexico. The strategy shall use:
A. incentives to encourage the formation of businesses to clear vegetation;
B. incentives to encourage biomass energy use; and
C. inmates from the corrections department to assist with watershed cleanup.
SECTION 9. [NEW MATERIAL] BUREAUS--CHIEFS.--The secretary shall establish within each division such "bureaus" as deemed necessary to carry out the provisions of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act. The secretary shall employ a "chief" to be the administrative head of each bureau. The chief and all subsidiary employees of the department shall be covered by the Personnel Act unless otherwise provided by law.
SECTION 10. [NEW MATERIAL] ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS OF THE DEPARTMENT--POWERS AND DUTIES SPECIFIED BY LAW--ACCESS TO INFORMATION.--Those organizational units of the department and the officers of those units specified by law shall have all of the powers and duties enumerated in the specific laws involved. However, the carrying out of those powers and duties shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the secretary, and the secretary shall retain the final decision-making authority and responsibility for the administration of any laws as provided in Section 7 of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act. The department shall have access to all records, data and information of other state departments, agencies and institutions, and of its own organizational units, not specifically held confidential by law.
SECTION 11. [NEW MATERIAL] ADVISORY COMMITTEES.--
A. Advisory committees may be created. "Advisory" means furnishing advice, gathering information, making recommendations and performing such other activities as may be instructed or delegated and as may be necessary to fulfill advisory functions or to comply with federal or private funding requirements and does not extend to administering a program or function or setting policy unless specified by law. Advisory committees shall be appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Executive Reorganization Act.
B. All members of advisory committees appointed under the authority of this section are entitled to receive as their sole remuneration for services as a member those amounts authorized under the Per Diem and Mileage Act.
SECTION 12. [NEW MATERIAL] STATE ALTERNATIVE FUEL PROGRAM MANAGER--CREATION.--A "state alternative fuel program manager" is created in the energy conservation and management division of the department. The manager's duties include:
A. promoting, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of state clean alternative fuel transportation programs, including a mass transit demonstration project and other demonstration projects that place New Mexico on the leading edge of new clean fuel technologies;
B. coordinating and directing the provisions of the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act; and
C. mobilizing and coordinating necessary resources and expertise from the government, education and private sectors to assist in clean alternative fuel transportation programs and projects.
SECTION 13. [NEW MATERIAL] WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CREATED--DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE COMMITTEE.--
A. The "wastewater treatment technical advisory committee" is created. The committee shall consist of five members to be appointed by and to serve at the pleasure of the secretary. The members shall include:
(1) a wastewater treatment system engineer with at least ten years of experience in wastewater system design and construction;
(2) a faculty member from a university or college located within New Mexico with a minimum of a master's degree in biological science, microbiology, soil science or engineering and with a minimum of ten years of work or academic experience with wastewater treatment or wastewater treatment facility management;
(3) a representative from the New Mexico state university water utilities technical assistance program;
(4) a class 4 certified wastewater operator with at least ten years of experience; and
(5) a representative from the New Mexico home builders association.
B. The term of appointed members shall be three years. Members shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified. Vacancies occurring in the membership of an appointed member shall be filled by the secretary for the remainder of the unexpired term.
C. The committee shall conduct open meetings as needed but not less than quarterly.
D. The department shall provide technical and legal assistance to the committee as needed.
E. The committee shall:
(1) establish procedures, practices and policies governing the committee's activities;
(2) provide standardized objective evaluation of wastewater treatment and disposal technologies for both large- and small-flow domestic, commercial and agricultural wastewater systems and submit its findings to the secretary for final approval by the secretary, who shall add the wastewater treatment and disposal technologies to the list of approved technologies maintained by the department; and
(3) maintain a current list of approved wastewater technologies accessible by the public on the department's web site.
F. Members of the committee are entitled to receive reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of their duties pursuant to the Per Diem and Mileage Act and shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance. Expenditures for this purpose shall be made from the budgeted funds of the department.
SECTION 14. [NEW MATERIAL] COOPERATION WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY--SINGLE STATE STATUS.--
A. The department is authorized to cooperate with the federal government in the administration of natural resource, energy or environmental programs in which financial or other participation by the federal government is authorized or mandated under state or federal laws, rules or orders. The secretary may enter into agreements with agencies of the federal government to implement natural resource, energy or environmental programs subject to availability of appropriated state funds and any provisions of state laws applicable to such agreements or participation by the state.
B. The governor or the secretary may by appropriate order designate the department or any organizational unit of the department as the single state agency for the administration
of any natural resource, energy or environmental program when that designation is a condition of federal financial or other participation in the program under applicable federal law, rule or order. Whether or not a federal condition exists, the governor may designate the department or any organizational unit of the department as the single state agency for the administration of any natural resource, energy or environmental program. No designation of a single state agency under the authority granted in this section shall be made in contravention of state law.
SECTION 15. [NEW MATERIAL] ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT BOARD--EXEMPTIONS FROM AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.--The board shall receive staff support from the department. All powers, duties and responsibilities of the board under the Food Service Sanitation Act, the New Mexico Food Act, the Flour and Bread Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Environmental Improvement Act, the Air Quality Control Act, the Radiation Protection Act, the Hazardous Waste Act, the Ground Water Protection Act, the Environmental Compliance Act, the Solid Waste Act, the Rural Infrastructure Act, the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act and Sections 74-4A-1 and 74-8-1 through 74-8-3 NMSA 1978 are explicitly exempt from the authority of the secretary under the provisions of Subsection B of Section 7 of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act.
SECTION 16. [NEW MATERIAL] WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION--EXEMPTIONS FROM AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.--The water quality control commission shall receive staff support from the department. All powers, duties and responsibilities of the water quality control commission under Section 74-6-11 NMSA 1978 and the Water Quality Act are hereby explicitly exempted from the authority of the secretary under the provisions of Subsection B of Section 7 of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Act.
SECTION 17. Section 3-29-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1965, Chapter 300, Section 14-28-2, as amended) is amended to read:
"3-29-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Sanitary Projects Act:
A. "community" means a rural unincorporated community and includes a combination of two or more rural unincorporated communities when they have been combined for the purposes set forth in the Sanitary Projects Act;
B. "association" includes an association or mutual domestic water consumers association organized under Laws 1947, Chapter 206, Laws 1949, Chapter 79 or Laws 1951, Chapter 52, as well as any association organized under the provisions of the Sanitary Projects Act;
C. "department" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
D. "member" or "membership" means a person who has paid the appropriate fees and has been issued a certificate as required by association bylaws;
E. "person" means a single residence or property owner, as determined by the rules adopted by the association's board of directors; and
F. "project" means a water supply or reuse, storm drainage or wastewater facility owned, constructed or operated by an association."
SECTION 18. Section 6-10-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1923, Chapter 76, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"6-10-3. PAYMENT OF STATE MONEY INTO TREASURY--SUSPENSE FUNDS.--All public money in the custody or under the control of any state official or agency obtained or received by any official or agency from any source, except as in Section 6-10-54 NMSA 1978 provided, shall be paid into the state treasury. It is the duty of every official or person in charge of any state agency receiving any money in cash or by check, draft or otherwise for or on behalf of the state or any agency thereof from any source, except as in Section 6-10-54 NMSA 1978 provided, to forthwith and before the close of the next succeeding business day after the receipt of the money to deliver or remit it to the state treasurer. Provided, however, that the money collected by the state [park and recreation] parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department and the state monuments [of the museum] division of the [office of] cultural affairs department shall be deposited into the state treasury no later than ten days following collection. Provided that county treasurers shall remit all money received for taxes for state purposes or that are by law required to be remitted to the state treasurer on or before the tenth day of the next succeeding month following the receipt or collection thereof. Provided further that every official or person in charge of any state agency receiving any money, except as in Section 6-10-54 NMSA 1978 provided, in cash or by check, draft or otherwise, on deposit, in escrow or in evidence of good faith to secure the performance of any contract or agreement with the state or with any department, institution or agency of the state, which money has not yet been earned so as to become the absolute property of the state, shall deliver or remit to the state treasurer within the times and in the manner in this section provided, which money shall be by the state treasurer deposited in a suspense account to the credit of the proper official, person, board or bureau in charge of any state agency so receiving the money; provided, however, that all money held by the commissioner of public lands on deposit, in escrow or in evidence of good faith to secure the performance of any contract or agreement with the state shall be delivered or remitted to the state treasurer within six months from the date this act is approved and, at those times, in the amounts and from the various banks in which it is deposited as may be directed by the state board of finance."
SECTION 19. Section 6-21A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 144, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"6-21A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund Act:
A. "authority" means the New Mexico finance authority;
B. "department" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
C. "drinking water facility construction project" means the acquisition, design, construction, improvement, expansion, repair or rehabilitation of all or part of any structure, facility or equipment necessary for a drinking water system or water supply system;
D. "drinking water supply facility" means any structure, facility or equipment necessary for a drinking water system or water supply system;
E. "financial assistance" means loans, the purchase or refinancing of debt obligation of a local authority at an interest rate that is less than or equal to the market interest rate in any case in which a debt obligation is incurred after July 1, 1993, loan guarantees, bond insurance or security for revenue bonds issued by the authority;
F. "fund" means the drinking water state revolving loan fund;
G. "local authority" means any municipality, county, incorporated county, sanitation district, water and sanitation district or any similar district, public or private water cooperative or association or any similar organization, public or private community water system or nonprofit noncommunity water system or any other agency created pursuant to a joint powers agreement acting on behalf of any entity listed in this subsection with a publicly owned drinking water system or water supply system that qualifies as a community water system or nonprofit noncommunity system as defined by the Safe Drinking Water Act. "Local authority" does not include systems owned by federal agencies;
H. "operate and maintain" means to perform all necessary activities, including the replacement of equipment or appurtenances, to assure the dependable and economical function of a drinking water facility in accordance with its intended purpose; and
I. "Safe Drinking Water Act" means the federal Safe Drinking Water Act as amended in 1996 and its subsequent amendments or successor provisions."
SECTION 20. Section 6-21D-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2005, Chapter 176, Section 2) is amended to read:
"6-21D-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Bonding Act:
A. "authority" means the New Mexico finance authority;
B. "bonds" means energy efficiency bonds;
C. "department" means the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
D. "energy efficiency measure" means a modification or improvement to a building or complex of buildings that is designed to reduce energy consumption or operating costs or that provides a renewable energy source and may include:
(1) insulation of the building structure or systems within the building;
(2) storm windows or doors, caulking or weatherstripping, multiglazed windows or doors, heat-absorbing or heat-reflective glazed and coated window or door systems, additional glazing, reductions in glass area or other window and door system modifications that reduce energy consumption;
(3) automated or computerized energy control systems;
(4) heating, ventilating or air conditioning system modifications or replacements;
(5) replacement or modification of lighting fixtures to increase the energy efficiency of the lighting system;
(6) energy recovery systems;
(7) on-site photovoltaics, solar heating and cooling systems or other renewable energy systems; or
(8) cogeneration or combined heat and power systems that produce steam, chilled water or forms of energy such as heat, as well as electricity, for use primarily within a building or complex of buildings;
E. "fund" means the energy efficiency and renewable energy bonding fund;
F. "school district" means a political subdivision of the state established for the administration of public schools, segregated geographically for taxation and bonding purposes and governed by the Public School Code;
G. "school district building" means a building, the title to which is held by a school district; and
H. "state building" means a building, the title to which is held by the state or an agency of the state."
SECTION 21. Section 6-23-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 231, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"6-23-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public Facility Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation Act:
A. "conservation-related cost savings" means cost savings, other than utility cost savings, in the operating budget of a governmental unit that are a direct result of energy or water conservation measures implemented pursuant to a guaranteed utility savings contract;
B. "energy conservation measure" means a training program or a modification to a facility, including buildings, systems or vehicles, that is designed to reduce energy consumption or conservation-related operating costs and may include:
(1) insulation of the building structure or systems within the building;
(2) storm windows or doors, caulking or weatherstripping, multiglazed windows or doors, heat absorbing or heat reflective glazed and coated window or door systems, additional glazing, reductions in glass area or other window and door system modifications that reduce energy consumption;
(3) automated or computerized energy control systems;
(4) heating, ventilating or air conditioning system modifications or replacements;
(5) replacement or modification of lighting fixtures to increase the energy efficiency of the lighting system without increasing the overall illumination of a facility, unless an increase in illumination is necessary to conform to the applicable state or local building code or nationally accepted standards for the lighting system after the proposed modifications are made;
(6) energy recovery systems;
(7) solar energy generating or heating and cooling systems or other renewable energy systems;
(8) cogeneration or combined heat and power systems that produce steam, chilled water or forms of energy such as heat, as well as electricity, for use primarily within a building or complex of buildings;
(9) energy conservation measures that provide long-term operating cost reductions;
(10) maintenance and operation management systems that provide long-term operating cost reductions;
(11) traffic control systems; or
(12) alternative fuel options or accessories for vehicles;
C. "governmental unit" means an agency, political subdivision, institution or instrumentality of the state, including two- and four-year institutions of higher education, a municipality, a county or a school district;
D. "guaranteed utility savings contract" means a contract for the evaluation and recommendation of energy or water conservation measures and for the implementation of one or more of those measures, and which contract provides that all payments, except obligations on termination of the contract before its expiration, are to be made over time and the savings are guaranteed to the extent necessary to make the payments for the conservation measures;
E. "qualified provider" means a person experienced in the design, implementation and installation of energy or water conservation measures and who meets the experience qualifications developed by the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department for energy conservation measures or the office of the state engineer for water conservation measures;
F. "utility cost savings" means the amounts saved by a governmental unit in the purchase of energy or water that are a direct result of energy or water conservation measures implemented pursuant to a guaranteed utility savings contract; and
G. "water conservation measures" means a training program, change in maintenance practices or facility or landscape alteration designed to reduce water consumption or conservation-related operating costs."
SECTION 22. Section 7-29A-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 38, Section 2) is amended to read:
"7-29A-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Enhanced Oil Recovery Act:
A. "crude oil" means oil and other liquid hydrocarbons removed from natural gas at or near the wellhead;
B. "division" means the oil conservation division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
C. "enhanced recovery project" means the use or the expanded use of any process for the displacement of crude oil from an oil well or pool classified by the division pursuant to Paragraph (11) of Subsection B of Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978 other than a primary recovery process, including but not limited to the use of a pressure maintenance process, a water flooding process, an immiscible, miscible, chemical, thermal or biological process or any other related process;
D. "expansion or expanded use" means a significant change or modification, as determined by the [oil conservation] division in:
(1) the technology or process used for the displacement of crude oil from an oil well or pool classified by the division pursuant to Paragraph (11) of Subsection B of Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978; or
(2) the expansion, extension or increase in size of the geologic area or adjacent geologic area that could reasonably be determined to represent a new or unique area of activity;
E. "operator" means the person responsible for the actual physical operation of an enhanced recovery project;
F. "person" means any individual, estate, trust, receiver, business trust, corporation, firm, copartnership, cooperative, joint venture, association or other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number;
G. "positive production response" means that the rate of oil production from the wells or pools affected by an enhanced recovery project is greater than the rate that would have occurred without the project;
H. "primary recovery" means the displacement of crude oil from an oil well or pool classified by the division pursuant to Paragraph (11) of Subsection B of Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978 into the well bore by means of the natural pressure of the oil well or pool, including but not limited to artificial lift;
I. "recovered oil tax rate" means that tax rate, as set forth in Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of Section 7-29-4 NMSA 1978, on crude oil produced from an enhanced recovery project;
J. "secondary recovery project" means an enhanced recovery project that:
(1) occurs subsequent to the completion of primary recovery and is not a tertiary recovery project;
(2) involves the application, in accordance with sound engineering principles, of carbon dioxide miscible fluid displacement, pressure maintenance, water flooding or any other secondary recovery method accepted and approved by the division pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (14) of Subsection B of Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978 that can reasonably be expected to result in an increase, determined in light of all facts and circumstances, in the amount of crude oil that may ultimately be recovered; and
(3) encompasses a pool or portion of a pool the boundaries of which can be adequately defined and controlled;
K. "severance" means the taking from the soil of any product in any manner whatsoever;
L. "termination" means the discontinuance of an enhanced recovery project by the operator; and
M. "tertiary recovery project" means an enhanced recovery project that:
(1) occurs subsequent to the completion of a secondary recovery project;
(2) involves the application, in accordance with sound engineering principles, of carbon dioxide miscible fluid displacement, pressure maintenance, water flooding or any other tertiary recovery method accepted and approved by the division pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (14) of Subsection B of Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978 that can reasonably be expected to result in an increase, determined in light of all facts and circumstances, in the amount of crude oil that may ultimately be recovered; and
(3) encompasses a pool or portion of a pool the boundaries of which can be adequately defined and controlled."
SECTION 23. Section 7-29B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1995, Chapter 15, Section 2, as amended by Laws 1999, Chapter 7, Section 2 and as further amended by Laws 1999, Chapter 256, Section 3) is amended to read:
"7-29B-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Natural Gas and Crude Oil Production Incentive Act:
A. "average annual taxable value" means the average of the taxable value per barrel, determined pursuant to Section 7-31-5 NMSA 1978, of all oil produced in New Mexico for the specified calendar year as determined by the department;
B. "average daily production" means, for any crude oil or natural gas property assigned a single production number by the department, the number derived by dividing the total volume of crude oil or natural gas production from the property reported to the division during a calendar year by the sum of the number of days each eligible well within the property produced or injected during that calendar year;
C. "department" means the taxation and revenue department;
D. "division" means the oil conservation division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
E. "eligible well" means a crude oil or natural gas well that produces or an injection well that injects and is integral to production for any period of time during the preceding calendar year;
F. "natural gas" means any combustible vapor composed chiefly of hydrocarbons occurring naturally;
G. "operator" means the person responsible for the actual physical operation of a natural gas or oil well;
H. "person" means any individual or other legal entity, including any group or combination of individuals or other legal entities acting as a unit;
I. "production restoration incentive tax exemption" means the tax exemption set forth in Subsection B of Section 7-29-4 NMSA 1978 for natural gas or oil produced from a production restoration project;
J. "production restoration project" means the use of any process for returning to production a natural gas or oil well that had thirty days or less of production in any period of twenty-four consecutive months beginning on or after January 1, 1993 as approved and certified by the division;
K. "severance" means the taking from the soil of any product in any manner whatsoever;
L. "stripper well property" means a crude oil or natural gas producing property that is assigned a single production unit number by the department and:
(1) if a crude oil producing property, produced an average daily production of less than ten barrels of oil per eligible well per day for the preceding calendar year;
(2) if a natural gas producing property, produced an average daily production of less than sixty thousand cubic feet of natural gas per eligible well per day during the preceding calendar year; or
(3) if a property with wells that produce both crude oil and natural gas, produced an average daily production of less than ten barrels of oil per eligible well per day for the preceding calendar year, as determined by converting the volume of natural gas produced by the well to barrels of oil by using a ratio of six thousand cubic feet to one barrel of oil;
M. "stripper well incentive tax rates" means the tax rates set forth in Paragraphs (6) through (9) of Subsection A of Section 7-29-4 NMSA 1978 and in Paragraphs (4) through (7) of Subsection A of Section 7-31-4 NMSA 1978 for natural gas or oil produced from a well within a stripper well property;
N. "well workover incentive tax rate" means the tax rate set forth in Paragraphs (4) and (5) of Subsection A of Section 7-29-4 NMSA 1978 on the natural gas or oil produced from a well workover project; and
O. "well workover project" means any procedure undertaken by the operator of a natural gas or oil well that is intended to increase the production from the well and that has been approved and certified by the division."
SECTION 24. Section 9-5B-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 91, Section 3) is amended to read:
"9-5B-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps Act:
A. "commission" means the New Mexico youth conservation corps commission;
B. "corps" means the New Mexico youth conservation corps;
C. "corps member" means a person enrolled in the corps;
D. "department" means the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
E. "nonprofit organization" means any organization that has been granted an exemption from federal income tax by the United States commissioner of internal revenue as an organization described in Section 501(c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended or renumbered;
F. "project" means an activity that can be completed in six months or less, results in a specific identifiable service or product that otherwise would not be accomplished with existing funds and does not duplicate the routine services or functions of the sponsor;
G. "resident" means an individual who has resided in New Mexico for at least six months before applying for employment with the corps; and
H. "sponsor" means any local unit of government, state agency, federal agency, nonprofit organization or federally recognized Native American tribe."
SECTION 25. Section 9-5B-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 91, Section 5) is amended to read:
"9-5B-5. COMMISSION CREATED--MEMBERSHIP--APPOINTMENTS--
TERMS--VACANCIES--COMPENSATION.--
A. There is created a nine-member "New Mexico youth conservation corps commission", which is administratively attached to the department. The commission consists of the following members:
(1) the [superintendent of public instruction] secretary of public education or [his] the secretary's designee;
(2) the commissioner of public lands or [his] the commissioner's designee;
(3) the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment or [his] the secretary's designee;
(4) the secretary of [the youth authority] children, youth and families or [his] the secretary's designee; and
(5) five members of the general public appointed by the governor to reflect the geographic diversity of the state, one of whom is knowledgeable in the current policies of the United States forest service and one of whom is Native American.
B. One [of the members] public member of the commission shall be appointed by the governor for a one-year term, two public members shall be appointed for two-year terms and two public members shall be appointed for three-year terms [and]. All subsequent appointments of public members shall be made for three-year terms.
C. The public members shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. Vacancies on the commission caused by the loss of a public member shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the unexpired term within sixty days of the vacancy. Public commission members shall serve until their successors have been appointed.
D. A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a quorum for transaction of business. The commission shall elect a [chairman] chair from its membership.
E. Public members of the commission [shall be compensated] are entitled to per diem and mileage as provided in the Per Diem and Mileage Act and shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance."
SECTION 26. Section 13-1B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 58, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"13-1B-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act:
A. "alternative fuel" means natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity, hydrogen, a fuel mixture containing not less than eighty-five percent ethanol or methanol, a fuel mixture containing not less than twenty percent vegetable oil or a water-phased hydrocarbon fuel emulsion consisting of a hydrocarbon base and water in an amount not less than twenty percent by volume of the total water-phased fuel emulsion;
B. "conventional fuel" means gasoline or diesel fuel;
C. "department" means the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
D. "fund" means the alternative fuel acquisition loan fund;
E. "political subdivision" means a county, municipality or school district; and
F. "vehicle" means a light duty vehicle under [8,500] eight thousand five hundred pounds."
SECTION 27. Section 16-2-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 254, Section 113, as amended) is amended to read:
"16-2-2. STATE PARKS ADVISORY BOARD CREATED--MEMBERSHIP--COMPENSATION--DUTIES.--
A. The "advisory board" to the state parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department is created. It shall be composed of seven to eleven members appointed by the governor.
B. The advisory board shall provide advice and make recommendations relating to the administration of [the] state parks [division]. It shall advise on all matters of policy, [regulations] rules, the formulation of a comprehensive statewide recreation plan and such other matters as may be requested by the director of that division.
C. The advisory board shall meet quarterly or at the call of the [chairman] chair.
D. Each member of the advisory board shall annually elect a [chairman] chair and vice [chairman] chair from its membership. The director of the state parks division shall serve as the executive secretary of the board."
SECTION 28. Section 16-2-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 254, Section 12, as amended) is amended to read:
"16-2-3. MEANING OF DESIGNATIONS.--Wherever in the laws of New Mexico, whether or not the statutes have been compiled in the NMSA 1978, reference is made to the "state park and recreation commission" [or to the "commission"], the term shall mean the state [park and recreation] parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department. As used in Chapter 16 NMSA 1978, "secretary" means the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment."
SECTION 29. Section 16-3-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 372, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"16-3-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the State Trails System Act:
A. "local government" means any county, municipality or other political subdivision of the state and includes rural communities and unincorporated towns or villages in the state; and
B. "secretary" means the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment."
SECTION 30. Section 16-4-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 242, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"16-4-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in El Rio Chama Scenic and Pastoral Act:
A. "corridor" means those lands immediately adjacent to the riverbed essentially from rim to rim or four hundred feet back from the river banks of the Rio Chama, whichever is less;
B. "pastoral" means those free-flowing segments of the river [which] that are affected by the works of [man] humans but [which] that still possess natural and scenic value. Included are areas with developed or partially developed shorelines;
C. "river" means a flowing body of water or any segment, portion or tributary thereof within the corridor, including rivers, streams, creeks, branches or small lakes;
D. "scenic" means those sections of the river that are free of impoundments, with shorelines remaining largely undeveloped, but [which] that may be accessible in places by primitive roads; and
E. "secretary" means the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment."
SECTION 31. Section 16-4-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 18, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"16-4-11. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Rio Grande Valley State Park Act:
A. "conservancy district" means the middle Rio Grande conservancy district;
B. "operating party" means the party designated by the secretary to manage the state park; and
C. "secretary" means the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment."
SECTION 32. Section 25-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 309, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"25-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Food Service Sanitation Act:
A. "agency" or "division" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
B. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
C. "employee" means [any individual] a person employed in a food service establishment who transports food or food containers, who handles food during storage, preparation or serving, who comes in contact with any utensils or who is employed in a room in which food is stored, prepared or served;
D. "food" means any solid or liquid substance intended for human consumption by eating or drinking;
E. "general public" includes beneficiaries of governmental feeding programs and private charitable feeding programs and residents and employees of institutions that provide meals to their residents and employees either with or without direct payment to the institution by the residents or employees;
F. "temporary food service establishment" means a food service establishment that operates at a fixed location in conjunction with a single event or celebration for a short period of time not exceeding the event or celebration or not exceeding thirty days;
[G. "person" means an individual or any other legal entity;
H.] G. "food service establishment" means:
(1) any fixed or mobile place where food is served and sold for consumption on the premises;
(2) any fixed or mobile place where food is prepared for sale to or consumption by the general public either on or off the premises, including any place where food is manufactured for ultimate sale in a sealed original package; but "prepared" as used in this paragraph does not include the preparation of raw fruits, vegetables or pure honey for display and sale in a grocery store or similar operation. For purposes of this paragraph, "pure honey" means natural liquid or solid honey, extracted from the combs or in the comb, taken from beehives, with no processing or additional ingredients. "Food service establishment" does not mean a dairy establishment; and
(3) meat markets, whether or not operated in conjunction with a grocery store;
[I.] H. "utensil" means any implement used in the storage, preparation, transportation or service of food; and
[J.] I. "dairy establishment" means a milk processing or milk producing facility."
SECTION 33. Section 25-2-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1951, Chapter 169, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"25-2-2. DEFINITIONS.--For the purpose of the New Mexico Food Act:
A. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
B. "dairy establishment" means a milk processing or milk producing facility;
C. "division" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
D. "director" means the secretary of natural resources and environment or [his] the secretary's authorized representative;
E. "person" includes an individual, partnership, corporation and association;
F. "food" means:
(1) articles used for food or drink for [man] people or animals;
(2) chewing gum; and
(3) articles used for components of food or drink or chewing gum for [man] people or animals;
G. "label" means a display of written, printed or graphic matter upon the immediate container of any article. A requirement made by or under authority of the New Mexico Food Act that any word, statement or other information appear on the label shall not be considered to be complied with unless such word, statement or other information also appears on the outside container or wrapper, if any, of the retail package of such article or is easily legible through the outside container or wrapper;
H. "immediate container" does not include package liners;
I. "labeling" means all labels and other written, printed or graphic matter:
(1) upon an article or any of its containers or wrappers; or
(2) accompanying such article;
J. if an article is alleged to be misbranded because the labeling is misleading or if an advertisement is alleged to be false because it is misleading, then in determining whether the labeling or advertisement is misleading, there shall be taken into account, among other things, not only representations made or suggested by statement, word, design, device, sound or in any combination thereof, but also the extent to which the labeling or advertisement fails to reveal facts material in the light of such representations or material with respect to consequences [which] that may result from the use of the article to which the labeling or advertisement relates under the conditions of use prescribed in the labeling or advertisement thereof or under such conditions of use as are customary or usual;
K. "advertisement" means all representations disseminated in any manner or by any means, other than by labeling, for the purpose of inducing, or [which] that are likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the purchase of food;
L. "contaminated with filth" applies to any food not securely protected from dust, dirt and, so far as may be necessary by all reasonable means, [from] all foreign or injurious contaminations, or any food found to contain any dust, dirt, foreign or injurious contamination or infestation; M. the provisions shall be considered to include the manufacture, production, processing, packing, exposure, offer, possession and holding of any such article and the supplying or applying of any such articles in the conduct of any food establishment; and
N. "federal act" means the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, [21 USC § 301 et seq.] the Federal Meat Inspection Act [21 USC § 601 et seq.] and the federal Poultry
Products Inspection Act [21 USC § 451 et seq]."
SECTION 34. Section 25-5-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1955, Chapter 244, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"25-5-l. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Flour and Bread Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
A. "flour" means foods commonly known in the milling and baking industries [as] and:
(1) includes:
(a) white flour, also known as wheat flour or plain flour;
[(2)] (b) bromated flour;
[(3)] (c) self-rising flour, also known as self-rising white flour or self-rising wheat flour; and
[(4)] (d) phosphated flour, also known as phosphated white flour or phosphated wheat flour; [but] and
(2) excludes whole wheat flour and [also excludes] special flours not used for bread, roll, bun or biscuit baking, such as specialty cake, pancake and pastry flours;
B. "white bread" means any bread made with flour as defined in Subsection A of this section, whether baked in a pan or on a hearth or screen, [which] that is commonly known or usually represented and sold as white bread, including Vienna bread, French bread and Italian bread;
C. "rolls" includes plain white rolls and buns of the semi-bread dough type, namely: soft rolls such as hamburger rolls, hot dog rolls and Parker House rolls and hard rolls such as Vienna rolls and Kaiser rolls; but [shall] "rolls" does not include yeast-raised sweet rolls or sweet buns made with fillings or coatings such as cinnamon rolls or buns and butterfly rolls;
D. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
E. "director" means the [director of the division] secretary of natural resources and environment or [his] the secretary's authorized representative;
F. "division" means the [environmental improvement division of the health] natural resources and environment department; and
G. "person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust or any group of persons, whether incorporated or not, engaged in the commercial manufacture or sale of flour, white bread or rolls."
SECTION 35. Section 30-8-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 199, Section 4) is amended to read:
"30-8-7. PUBLIC EDUCATION.--The state game commission, the [state highway] department of transportation and the state [park and recreation commission] parks division and the environmental [improvement agency] protection division of the natural resources and environment department are encouraged to institute public education programs through the news media in order to inform the public of the litter problem in New Mexico and of individual efforts that can be made to assist in the abatement of the problem. In addition, these agencies are authorized to work with industry organizations in a joint anti-litter campaign so that additional effect may be given to the anti-litter effort in New Mexico."
SECTION 36. Section 33-13-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1998, Chapter 57, Section 2) is amended to read:
"33-13-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Inmate Forestry Work Camp Act:
A. "department" means the corrections department;
B. "forestry division" means the forestry division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
C. "program" means the inmate forestry work camp program; and
D. "work camp" means a minimum security facility operated by the department that houses inmates training or working in the program."
SECTION 37. Section 50-9-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1972, Chapter 63, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"50-9-1. SHORT TITLE.--[Sections 50-9-1 through 50-9-25] Chapter 50, Article 9 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Occupational Health and Safety Act"."
SECTION 38. Section 50-9-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1972, Chapter 63, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"50-9-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Occupational Health and Safety Act:
A. "person" means any individual, partnership, firm, public or private corporation, association, trust, estate, political subdivision or agency or any other legal entity or their legal representatives, agents or assigns;
B. "employee" means an individual who is employed by an employer, but does not include a domestic employee or a volunteer nonsalaried firefighter;
C. "employer" means any person who has one or more employees, but does not include the United States;
D. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
E. "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
F. "place of employment" means any place, area or environment in or about which an employee is required or permitted to work;
G. "commission" means the [occupational health and safety review commission established under the Occupational Health and Safety Act] board;
H. "chemical" means any element, chemical compound or mixture of elements or compounds;
I. "hazardous chemical" means any chemical or combination of chemicals that has been labeled hazardous by the chemical manufacturer, importer or distributor in accordance with regulations promulgated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970;
J. "label" means any written, printed or graphic material displayed on or affixed to containers of chemicals [which] that identifies the chemical as hazardous;
K. "material safety data sheet" means written or printed material concerning a hazardous chemical that contains information on the identity listed on the label, the chemical and common names of the hazardous ingredients, the physical and health hazards, the primary route of entry, the exposure limits, any generally applicable control measures, any emergency or first aid procedures, the date of preparation and the name, address and telephone number of the chemical manufacturer, importer, employer or other responsible party preparing or distributing the material safety data sheet;
L. "mobile work site" means any place of employment in standard industrial classification codes 13, oil and gas extraction, and 15 through 17, construction, where work is performed in a different location than the principal office in a fixed location used by the employer; and
M. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment."
SECTION 39. Section 61-14E-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 317, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"61-14E-4. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act:
A. "advisory council" means the medical imaging and radiation therapy advisory council;
B. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
C. "certificate of limited practice" means a certificate issued pursuant to the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act to persons who perform restricted diagnostic radiography under direct supervision of a licensed practitioner limited to the following specific procedures:
(1) the viscera of the thorax;
(2) extremities;
(3) radiation to humans for diagnostic purposes in the practice of dentistry;
(4) axial/appendicular skeleton; or
(5) the foot, ankle or lower leg;
D. "certified nurse practitioner" means a person licensed pursuant to Section 61-3-23.2 NMSA 1978;
E. "credential" or "certification" means the recognition awarded to an individual who meets the requirements of a credentialing or certification organization;
F. "credentialing organization" or "certification organization" means a nationally recognized organization recognized by the board that issues credentials or certification through testing or evaluations that determine whether an individual meets defined standards for training and competence in a medical imaging modality;
G. "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
H. "diagnostic medical sonographer" means a person, including a vascular technologist or echocardiographer, other than a licensed practitioner, who provides patient care services using ultrasound;
I. "division" means the environmental health division of the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
J. "ionizing radiation" means alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays, x-rays, neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons and other particles capable of producing ions; "ionizing radiation" does not include non-ionizing radiation, such as sound waves, radio waves or microwaves, or visible, infrared or ultraviolet light;
K. "license" means a document issued by the department pursuant to the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act to [an individual] a person who has met the requirements of licensure;
L. "licensed practitioner" means a person licensed to practice medicine, dentistry, podiatry, chiropractic or osteopathy in this state;
M. "licensure" means a grant of authority through a license or limited license to perform specific medical imaging and radiation therapy services pursuant to the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act;
N. "magnetic resonance technologist" means a person other than a licensed practitioner who performs magnetic resonance procedures under the supervision of a licensed practitioner using magnetic fields and radio frequency signals;
O. "medical imaging" means the use of substances or equipment emitting ionizing or non-ionizing radiation on humans for diagnostic or interventional purposes;
P. "medical imaging modality" means:
(1) diagnostic medical sonography and all of its subspecialties;
(2) magnetic resonance imaging and all of its subspecialties;
(3) nuclear medicine technology and all of its subspecialties;
(4) radiation therapy and all of its subspecialties; and
(5) radiography and all of its subspecialties;
Q. "medical imaging professional" means a person who is a magnetic resonance technologist, radiographer, nuclear medicine technologist or diagnostic medical sonographer and who is licensed pursuant to the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act;
R. "non-ionizing radiation" means the optical radiations, including ultraviolet, visible, infrared and lasers, static and time-varying electric and magnetic fields and radio frequency, including microwave radiation and ultrasound;
S. "nuclear medicine technologist" means a person other than a licensed practitioner who applies radiopharmaceutical agents to humans for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes under the direction of a licensed practitioner;
T. "physician assistant" means a person licensed pursuant to Section 61-6-7 or 61-10A-4 NMSA 1978;
U. "radiation therapy" means the application of ionizing radiation to humans for therapeutic purposes;
V. "radiation therapy technologist" means a person other than a licensed practitioner whose application of radiation to humans is for therapeutic purposes;
W. "radiographer" means a person other than a licensed practitioner whose application of radiation to humans is for diagnostic purposes;
X. "radiography" means the application of radiation to humans for diagnostic purposes, including adjustment or manipulation of x-ray systems and accessories, including image receptors, positioning of patients, processing of films and any other action that materially affects the radiation dose to patients;
Y. "radiologist" means a licensed practitioner certified by the American board of radiology, the British royal college of [radiology] radiologists, the American osteopathic board of radiology or the American chiropractic board of radiology; and
Z. "radiologist assistant" means [an individual] a person licensed as a radiographer as defined in the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act who holds additional certification as a registered radiologist assistant by the American registry of radiologic technologists and who works under the supervision of a radiologist; provided that a radiologist assistant shall not interpret images, render diagnoses or prescribe medications or therapies."
SECTION 40. Section 61-33-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 44, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"61-33-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Utility Operators Certification Act:
A. "certified operator" means a person who is certified by the department as being qualified to operate one of the classifications of public water supply systems or public wastewater facilities;
B. "commission" means the water quality control commission;
C. "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
D. "domestic liquid waste" means human excreta and water-carried waste from typical residential plumbing fixtures and activities, including waste from toilets, sinks, bath fixtures, clothes or dishwashing machines and floor drains;
E. "domestic liquid waste treatment unit" means any system that is designed to discharge less than two thousand gallons per day and that is subject to rules promulgated by the environmental improvement board pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978 or a watertight unit designed, constructed and installed to stabilize only domestic liquid waste and to retain solids contained in such domestic liquid waste, including septic tanks;
F. "operate" means performing any activity, function, process control decision or system integrity decision regarding water quality or water quantity that has the potential to affect the proper functioning of a public water supply system or public wastewater facility or to affect human health, public welfare or the environment;
G. "person" means any agency, department or instrumentality of the United States and any of its officers, agents or employees, the state or any agency, institution or political subdivision thereof, any public or private corporation, individual, partnership, association or other entity, and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any political subdivision or public or private corporation;
H. "public wastewater facility" means a system of structures, equipment and processes designed to collect and treat domestic and industrial waste and dispose of the effluent, but does not include:
(1) any domestic liquid waste treatment unit; or
(2) any industrial facility subject to an industrial pretreatment program regulated by the United States environmental protection agency under the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act of 1977; and
I. "public water supply system" means:
(1) a system for the provision through pipes or other constructed conveyances to the public of water for human consumption or domestic purposes if the system:
(a) has at least fifteen service connections; or
(b) regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five individuals at least sixty days of the year; and
(2) includes any water supply source and any treatment, storage and distribution facilities under control of the operator of the system."
SECTION 41. Section 66-12-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1959, Chapter 338, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"66-12-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Boat Act:
A. "vessel" means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water;
B. "motorboat" means any vessel propelled by machinery, whether or not machinery is the principal source of propulsion, but does not include a vessel that has a valid marine document issued by the bureau of customs of the United States government or any federal agency successor thereto; "motorboat" includes any vessel propelled or designed to be propelled by sail and that does not have a valid document issued by a federal agency, but does not include a sailboard or windsurf board;
C. "owner" means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property in or title to a motorboat; "owner" includes a person entitled to the use or possession of a motorboat subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security;
D. "waters of this state" means waters within the territorial limits of this state;
E. "person" means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association or other entity;
F. "operate" means to navigate or otherwise use a motorboat or a vessel;
G. "state agency" means any department, institution, board, bureau, commission, district or committee of the government of this state and means every office or officer of any state agency;
H. "subdivision of the state" means every county, county institution, board, bureau or commission, incorporated city, town or village, drainage, conservancy, irrigation or other district and every office or officer of any subdivision of this state;
I. "division" means the state parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
J. "boat" means a motorboat that is ten feet in length or longer;
K. "dealer" means any person who engages in whole or in part in the business of buying, selling or exchanging new and unused motorboats or used motorboats, or both, either outright or on conditional sale, bailment, lease, chattel mortgage or otherwise and who has an established place of business for sale, trade and display of motorboats; "dealer" includes a yacht broker;
L. "lien" means every chattel mortgage, conditional sales contract, lease, purchase lease, sales lease, contract, security interest under the Uniform Commercial Code or other instrument in writing having the effect of a mortgage or lien or encumbrance upon, or intended to hold the title to any boat in the former owner, possessor or grantor;
M. "manufacturer" means any person engaged in the business of manufacturing or importing new and unused motorboats for the purpose of sale or trade;
N. "demonstration" means:
(1) the operation of a motorboat on the waters of this state for the purpose of selling, transferring, bartering, trading, negotiating or attempting to negotiate the sale or exchange of an interest in a motor boat; or
(2) the operation of a motorboat by a manufacturer for the purpose of testing the motorboat; and
O. "established place of business" means a salesroom in an enclosed building or structure that the dealer owns or leases, where the business of bartering, trading and selling of motorboats is conducted and where the books, records and files necessary to conduct the business are maintained."
SECTION 42. Section 68-2-31 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 96, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"68-2-31. DEFINITION.--As used in the New Mexico Forest Re-Leaf Act:
A. "division" means the forestry division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department; and
B. "tree" means any living single-stemmed or multi-stemmed woody material."
SECTION 43. Section 69-25A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1979, Chapter 291, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"69-25A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Surface Mining Act:
A. "commission" means the [coal surface] mining commission;
B. "director", when used without further qualification, means the director of the mining and minerals division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department or [his] the director's designee;
C. "alluvial valley floors" means the unconsolidated stream-laid deposits holding streams where water availability is sufficient for subirrigation or flood irrigation agricultural activities but does not include upland areas [which] that are generally overlain by a thin veneer of colluvial deposits composed chiefly of debris from sheet erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together with talus, other mass movement accumulation and windblown deposits;
D. "approximate original contour" means that surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain
with all highwalls and spoil piles eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the director determines that they are in compliance with Paragraph (8) of Subsection B of Section 69-25A-19 NMSA 1978;
E. "imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence of any condition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other requirement of the Surface Mining Act, in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice or violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the condition, practice or violation can be abated. A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not [expose himself] agree to be exposed to the danger during the time necessary for abatement;
F. "operator" means any person engaged in coal mining who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred fifty tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve consecutive calendar months in any one location;
G. "other minerals" means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and nonmetalliferous ores and any other solid material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal, and those minerals [which] that occur naturally in liquid or gaseous form;
H. "permit" means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations issued by the director pursuant to the Surface Mining Act;
I. "permit applicant" or "applicant" means a person applying for a permit;
J. "permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by the operator with [his] the operator's application, which area of land is to be covered by the operator's bond as required by Section 69-25A-13 NMSA 1978 and shall be readily identifiable by appropriate markers on the site;
K. "permittee" means a person holding a permit;
L. "person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint stock company, firm, company, corporation or other business organization;
M. [the term] "prime farmland" is to be defined by [regulation] rule of the commission after considering such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime, chemical balance, permeability, surface layer composition, susceptibility to flooding, erosion characteristics, history of use for intensive agricultural purposes and regulations issued by the United States secretary of agriculture;
N. "reclamation plan" means a plan submitted by an applicant for a permit [which] that sets forth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining operations pursuant to Section 69-25A-12 NMSA 1978;
O. "surface coal mining and reclamation operations" means surface coal mining operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of those operations after the date of enactment of the Surface Mining Act;
P. "surface coal mining operations" means:
(1) activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or activities subject to the requirements of Section 69-25A-20 NMSA 1978 relating to surface operations and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine. The activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintop removal, box cut, open pit and area mining. These activities also include uses of explosives and blasting and in situ distillation or retorting, leaching or other chemical or physical processing and the cleaning, concentrating or other processing or preparation, including loading of coal at or near the mine site. [Provided] However, [that] such activities do not include the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent of the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use or sale or coal exploration subject to Section 69-25A-16 NMSA 1978; and
(2) the areas upon which these activities occur or where the activities disturb the natural land surface. These areas also include any adjacent land, the use of which is incidental to any of the activities, all lands affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain access to the site of these activities and for haulage and excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas and other areas upon which are sited structures, facilities or other property or materials on the surface, resulting from or incident to these activities;
Q. "unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent the occurrence of any violation of [his] the permittee's permit or any requirement of the Surface Mining Act due to indifference, lack of diligence or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of the permit or the Surface Mining Act due to indifference, lack of diligence or lack of reasonable care; and
R. "lignite coal" means consolidated lignitic coal [having] that has less than eight thousand three hundred BTUs per pound and that is moisture- and mineral-matter-free."
SECTION 44. Section 69-25B-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1980, Chapter 87, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"69-25B-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act:
A. "director" means the director of the mining and minerals division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
B. "eligible lands and water" means land or water that was mined or that was affected by mining, wastebanks, processing or other mining processes and abandoned or left in an inadequate reclamation status and for which there is no continuing reclamation responsibility under state or federal laws;
C. "emergency" means a sudden danger or impairment that presents a high probability of substantial physical harm to health, safety or general welfare of people before the danger can be abated under normal program procedures; and
D. "fund" means the abandoned mine reclamation fund."
SECTION 45. A new section of the Surface Mining Act is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] DUTIES OF COAL SURFACE MINING COMMISSION TO MINING COMMISSION.--Beginning July 1, 2010, the mining commission shall assume the duties of the coal surface mining commission. All rules of the coal surface mining commission shall remain in force unless the mining commission repeals or amends them."
SECTION 46. Section 69-36-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 315, Section 3) is amended to read:
"69-36-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the New Mexico Mining Act:
A. "affected area" means the area outside of the permit area where the land surface, surface water, ground water and air resources are [impacted] affected by mining operations within the permit area;
B. "commission" means the mining commission [established in the New Mexico Mining Act];
C. "director" means the director of the division or [his] the director's designee;
D. "division" means the mining and minerals division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
E. "existing mining operation" means an extraction operation that produced marketable minerals for a total of at least two years between January 1, 1970 and [the effective date of the New Mexico Mining Act] June 18, 1993;
F. "exploration" means the act of searching for or investigating a mineral deposit, including sinking shafts, tunneling, drilling core and bore holes, digging pits, making cuts and other works for the purpose of extracting samples prior to commencement of development or extraction operations and the building of roads, access ways and other facilities related to such work; however, activities that cause no or very little surface disturbance, such as airborne surveys and photographs, use of instruments or devices that are hand carried or otherwise transported over the surface to perform magnetic, radioactive or other tests and measurements, boundary or claim surveying, location work or other work that causes no greater disturbance than is caused by ordinary lawful use of the area by persons not engaged in exploration, are excluded from the meaning of "exploration";
G. "mineral" means a nonliving commodity that is extracted from the earth for use or conversion into a [saleable] salable or usable product, but does not include clays, adobe, flagstone, potash, sand, gravel, caliche, borrow dirt, quarry rock used as aggregate for construction, coal, surface water or subsurface water, geothermal resources, oil and natural gas together with other chemicals recovered with them, commodities, byproduct materials and wastes that are regulated by the nuclear regulatory commission or waste regulated under Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976;
H. "mining" means the process of obtaining useful minerals from the earth's crust or from previously disposed or abandoned mining wastes, including exploration, open-cut mining and surface operation, the disposal of refuse from underground and in situ mining, mineral transportation, concentrating, milling, evaporation, leaching and other processing. "Mining" does not mean the exploration and extraction of potash, sand, gravel, caliche, borrow dirt [and] or quarry rock used as aggregate in construction; the exploration and extraction of natural petroleum in a liquid or gaseous state by means of wells or pipes; the development or extraction of coal; the extraction of geothermal resources; smelting, refining, cleaning, preparation, transportation or other off-site operations not conducted on permit areas; or the extraction, processing or disposal of commodities, byproduct materials or wastes or other activities regulated by the federal nuclear regulatory commission;
I. "new mining operation" means a mining operation that engages in a development or extraction operation after [the effective date of the New Mexico Mining Act] June 18, 1993 and that is not an existing mining operation;
J. "permit area" means the geographical area defined in the permit for a new mining operation or for an existing mining operation on which mining operations are conducted or cause disturbance; and
K. "reclamation" means the employment during and after a mining operation of measures designed to mitigate the disturbance of affected areas and permit areas and, to the extent practicable, provide for the stabilization of a permit area following closure that will minimize future impact to the environment from the mining operation and protect air and water resources."
SECTION 47. Section 69-36-14 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 315, Section 14, as amended) is amended to read:
"69-36-14. CITIZENS SUITS.--
A. A person having an interest that is or may be adversely affected may commence a civil action on [his] the person's own behalf to compel compliance with the New Mexico Mining Act. Such action may be brought against:
(1) the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission alleging a violation of the New Mexico Mining Act or of a rule, regulation, order or permit issued pursuant to that act;
(2) a person who is alleged to be in violation of a rule, regulation, order or permit issued pursuant to the New Mexico Mining Act; or
(3) the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission alleging a failure to perform any nondiscretionary act or duty required by the New Mexico Mining Act; provided, however, that no action pursuant to this section shall be commenced if the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission has commenced and is diligently prosecuting a civil action in a court of this state or an administrative enforcement proceeding to require compliance with that act. In an administrative or court action commenced by the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission, a person whose interest may be adversely affected and who has provided notice pursuant to Subsection B of this section prior to the initiation of the action may intervene as a matter of right.
B. No action shall be commenced pursuant to this section prior to sixty days after the plaintiff has given written notice to the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division, the commission, the attorney general and the alleged violator of the New Mexico Mining Act; provided, however, when the violation or order complained of constitutes an immediate threat to the health or safety of the plaintiff or would immediately and irreversibly impair a legal interest of the plaintiff, an action pursuant to this section may be brought immediately after notification of the proper parties.
C. [Except as otherwise provided herein] Suits against the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission shall be brought in the district court of Santa Fe county. Suits [only against] in which only one or more owners or operators of one or more mining operations are named as defendants shall be brought in the district court where one of the mining operations is located. If an action is brought against the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission and [the] an owner or operator of a mining operation, [such] the owner or operator may apply for a change of venue to the judicial district in which the mining operation is located. If not already a party, an owner or operator may intervene, upon a showing that the action relates primarily to a dispute regarding [the] a single mining operation and apply for [such] a change of venue. The district court shall grant a change of venue upon a showing that the action relates primarily to a dispute regarding the [subject] single mining operation and a showing that a forum non conveniens analysis suggests that the location of the mining operation is a superior venue.
D. In an action brought pursuant to this section, the [department of environment, the energy, minerals and natural resources department] division or the commission, if not a party, may intervene.
E. The court, in issuing a final order in an action brought pursuant to this section, may award costs of litigation, including attorney and expert witness fees, to a party whenever the court determines such award is appropriate. The court may, if a temporary injunction or preliminary injunction is sought, require the filing of a bond or equivalent security in accordance with the rules of civil procedure."
SECTION 48. Section 69-36-19 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 315, Section 19) is amended to read:
"69-36-19. FUNDS CREATED.--
A. There is created within the state treasury the "mining act fund". All money received by the state from permit applicants, permit holders, the federal government, other state agencies or legislative appropriations shall be delivered to the state treasurer and deposited in the fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment. Money in the fund is appropriated to the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department to carry out the purposes of the New Mexico Mining Act. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining in the mining act fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain and accrue to the benefit of the mining act fund.
B. There is created within the state treasury the "inactive or abandoned non-coal mine reclamation fund". All money received from administrative or court-imposed penalties shall be delivered to the state treasurer and deposited in the general fund to the credit of the current school fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment. Money in the fund is appropriated to the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department to conduct reclamation activities on abandoned or inactive non-coal mining areas. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining in the inactive or abandoned non-coal mine reclamation fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain and accrue to the benefit of the inactive or abandoned non-coal mine reclamation fund."
SECTION 49. Section 70-6-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1963, Chapter 139, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"70-6-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in Chapter 70, Article 6 NMSA 1978:
A. "underground storage" means storage of natural gas in a subsurface stratum or formation of the earth;
B. "natural gas" means natural gas either while in its original state after withdrawal from the earth or after it has been processed by removal of component parts not essential to its use for light and fuel;
C. "native gas" means gas that has not been previously withdrawn from the earth;
D. "division" means the oil conservation division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
E. "commission" means the oil conservation commission;
F. "natural gas company" means any person, firm or corporation engaged in the distribution, sale or furnishing of natural gas to or for the public and subject to regulation by the [New Mexico] public [utility] regulation commission under the Public Utility Act or any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of transporting natural gas and subject to regulation by the federal energy regulatory commission under the federal Natural Gas Act; and
G. "public body" means the state or any department, board, commission, bureau, institution, public agency, county or political subdivision thereof, including bodies corporate, bodies politic, municipal corporations, school districts, conservancy districts and quasi-municipal corporations of all kinds."
SECTION 50. Section 70-7-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 293, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"70-7-3. ADDITIONAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE OIL CONSERVATION DIVISION.--
A. As used in the Statutory Unitization Act, "division" means the oil conservation division of the natural resources and environment department.
B. Subject to the limitations of the Statutory Unitization Act, the [oil conservation] division [of the energy, minerals and natural resources department, hereinafter referred to as the "division"] is vested with jurisdiction, power and authority and it shall be its duty to make and enforce such orders and do such things as may be necessary or proper to carry out and effectuate the purposes of the Statutory Unitization Act."
SECTION 51. Section 70-11-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter 189, Section 2) is amended to read:
"70-11-2. OFFICE CREATED--DUTIES.--[There is created] The "office of interstate natural gas markets" [to be located] is created in the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department. The office shall:
A. conduct economic and legal studies of the interstate natural gas markets and of the trade policies and practices of the federal energy regulatory commission and regulatory agencies and local distributing companies lying outside New Mexico;
B. determine the impact of those practices on the economic well-being of New Mexico, especially as it relates to severance tax, royalty and general fund income of the state;
C. develop and implement marketing strategies and, if applicable, prepare legislation to promote the use of natural gas produced in New Mexico by markets in other states;
D. employ legal counsel and initiate or enter lawsuits as appropriate for the purpose of protecting and promoting the public interest in matters involving interstate natural gas markets;
E. initiate or intervene in cases before the federal energy regulatory commission, the California public utility commission and other regulatory agencies lying outside New Mexico to protect and promote the public interest of the state;
F. present two progress reports to the legislative finance committee each year; and
G. contract with state agencies and other appropriate entities and persons as may be required to carry out the purposes of [this act] Chapter 70, Article 11 NMSA 1978 and those purposes outlined in Laws 1988, Chapter 27, Section 3."
SECTION 52. Section 70-11-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter 189, Section 5) is amended to read:
"70-11-5. TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE--COMPOSITION--DUTIES.--
A. A "technical advisory committee" to the office of interstate natural gas markets is created. The committee shall consist of four members as follows:
(1) the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment or [his] the secretary's designee;
(2) the director of natural gas programs or [his] the director's designee;
(3) the commissioner of public lands or [his] the commissioner's designee; and
(4) the director of the oil conservation division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department or [his] the director's designee.
B. The secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment, the director of natural gas programs and the commissioner of public lands shall be voting members. The director of the oil conservation division shall be an ex-officio advisory member of the committee. The committee shall select a [chairman] chair and meet at the call of the [chairman] chair.
C. The committee shall review and make recommendations to the director of the office of interstate natural gas markets on how the office [of interstate natural gas markets] can perform the duties assigned to the office in Section [2 of this act] 70-11-2 NMSA 1978."
SECTION 53. Section 71-5-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 272, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"7l-5-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Geothermal Resources Conservation Act:
A. "geothermal resources" means the natural heat of the earth or the energy, in whatever form, below the surface of the earth present in, resulting from, created by or [which] that may be extracted from this natural heat and all minerals in solution or other products obtained from naturally heated fluids, brines, associated gases and steam, in whatever form, found below the surface of the earth, but excluding oil, hydrocarbon gas and other hydrocarbon substances;
B. "commission" means the oil conservation commission;
C. "correlative rights" means the opportunity afforded, insofar as is practicable to do so, to the owner of each property in a geothermal reservoir to produce [his] the owner's just and equitable share of the geothermal resources within [such] the reservoir, 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 recoverable geothermal resources under [such] the property bear to the total recoverable geothermal resources in the reservoir and, for such purpose, to use [his] the owner's just and equitable share of the natural heat or energy in the reservoir;
D. "division" means the oil conservation division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
E. "geothermal reservoir" means an underground reservoir containing geothermal resources, whether the fluids in the reservoir are native to the reservoir or flow into or are injected into the reservoir;
F. "geothermal field" means the general area [which] that is underlaid or reasonably appears to be underlaid by at least one geothermal reservoir;
G. "low-temperature thermal reservoir" means a geothermal reservoir containing low-temperature thermal water, which is defined as naturally heated water, the temperature of which is less than boiling at the altitude of occurrence, which has additional value by virtue of the heat contained therein and is found below the surface of the earth or in warm springs at the surface;
H. "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] of the United States or the state of New Mexico or any political subdivision [thereof] of the state;
I. "well" means any well dug or drilled for the discovery or development of geothermal resources or incident to the discovery or development of geothermal resources or for the purpose of injecting or reinjecting geothermal resources or the residue [thereof] of geothermal resources or other fluids into a geothermal reservoir or any well dug or drilled for any other purpose and reactivated or converted to any of the aforesaid uses; and
J. "potash" means the naturally occurring bedded deposits of the salts of the element potassium."
SECTION 54. Section 71-6-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 379, Section 16, as amended) is amended to read:
"71-6-6. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Solar Collector Standards Act:
A. "department" means the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department; and
B. "solar collector" means a component that provides for the collection and transfer of incident solar energy, such transfer to be effected through a liquid or air medium primarily by mechanical means for use in water heating, space heating or cooling or other applications that normally require or would require a conventional source of energy such as petroleum products, natural gas or electricity; but "solar collector" does not include a passive system that uses structural elements of a building to provide for the collection, storage and distribution of solar energy for heating or cooling without the use of a motor-driven fan or pump."
SECTION 55. Section 71-7-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2004, Chapter 55, Section 4) is amended to read:
"71-7-4. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Advanced Energy Technologies Economic Development Act:
A. "alternative fuel" means natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity, hydrogen, a fuel mixture containing not less than eighty-five percent ethanol or methanol, a fuel mixture containing not less than twenty percent vegetable oil or a water-phased hydrocarbon fuel emulsion consisting of a hydrocarbon base and water in an amount not less than twenty percent by volume of the total water-phased fuel emulsion;
B. "clean energy" means alternative fuels, energy efficiency, renewable energy and fuel cells;
C. "department" means the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
D. "energy efficiency" means the application of technology resulting in the reduced or improved use of energy;
E. "fuel cell" means equipment using an electrochemical process to generate electricity and heat;
F. "fund" means the clean energy grants fund;
G. "renewable energy" means thermal or electrical energy generated by means of a low- or zero-emissions generation technology that has substantial long-term production potential, including solar, wind, geothermal, landfill gas or biomass, but does not include fossil fuel or nuclear power; and
H. "secretary" means the secretary of [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment."
SECTION 56. Section 74-1-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1971, Chapter 277, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-l-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Environmental Improvement Act:
A. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
B. "department" or "environmental improvement department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
C. "on-site liquid waste system" means a liquid waste system, or part thereof, serving a dwelling, establishment or group, and using a liquid waste treatment unit designed to receive liquid waste followed by either a soil treatment or other type of disposal system. "On-site liquid waste system" includes holding tanks and privies but does not include systems or facilities designed to receive or treat mine or mill tailings or wastes;
D. "person" means the state or any agency, institution or political subdivision thereof, any public or private corporation, individual, partnership, association or other entity and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any political subdivision or public or private corporation;
E. "residential on-site liquid waste system" means an on-site liquid waste system serving up to four dwelling units; and
F. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment."
SECTION 57. Section 74-1-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1971, Chapter 277, Section 10, as amended by Laws 2000, Chapter 86, Section 1 and also by Laws 2000, Chapter 96, Section 1) is amended to read:
"74-1-7. DEPARTMENT--DUTIES.--
A. The department is responsible for environmental management and consumer protection programs. In that respect, the department shall maintain, develop and enforce rules and standards in the following areas:
(1) food protection;
(2) water supply, including implementing a capacity development program to assist water systems in acquiring and maintaining technical, managerial and financial capacity in accordance with Section 1420 of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and establishing administrative penalties for enforcement;
(3) liquid waste, including exclusive authority to collect on-site liquid waste system fees that are no more than the average charged by the contiguous states to New Mexico for similar permits and services and to implement and administer an inspection and permitting program for on-site liquid waste systems;
(4) air quality management as provided in the Air Quality Control Act;
(5) radiation control and collection of license, registration and other related fees as provided in the Radiation Protection Act;
(6) noise control;
(7) nuisance abatement;
(8) vector control;
(9) occupational health and safety as provided in the Occupational Health and Safety Act;
(10) sanitation of public swimming pools and public baths;
(11) plumbing, drainage, ventilation and sanitation of public buildings in the interest of public health;
(12) medical radiation, health and safety certification and standards for [radiologic technologists] medical imaging professionals and radiation therapists as provided in the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act;
(13) hazardous wastes and underground storage tanks as provided in the Hazardous Waste Act; [and]
(14) solid waste as provided in the Solid Waste Act; and
(15) any other area assigned by law.
B. Nothing in Subsection A of this section imposes requirements for the approval of subdivision plats in addition to those required elsewhere by law. Nothing in Subsection A of this section preempts the authority of any political subdivision to approve subdivision plats."
SECTION 58. Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1971, Chapter 277, Section 11, as amended by Laws 2000, Chapter 86, Section 2 and also by Laws 2000, Chapter 96, Section 2) is amended to read:
"74-1-8. BOARD--DUTIES.--
A. The board is responsible for environmental management and consumer protection. In that respect, the board shall promulgate rules and standards in the following areas:
(1) food protection;
(2) water supply, including a capacity development program to assist water systems in acquiring and maintaining technical, managerial and financial capacity in accordance with Section 1420 of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and rules authorizing imposition of administrative penalties for enforcement;
(3) liquid waste, including exclusive authority to establish on-site liquid waste system fees that are no more than the average charged by the contiguous states to New Mexico for similar permits and services and to implement and administer an inspection and permitting program for on-site liquid waste systems;
(4) air quality management as provided in the Air Quality Control Act;
(5) radiation control and establishment of license and registration and other related fees not to exceed fees charged by the United States nuclear regulatory commission for similar licenses as provided in the Radiation Protection Act;
(6) noise control;
(7) nuisance abatement;
(8) vector control;
(9) occupational health and safety as provided in the Occupational Health and Safety Act;
(10) sanitation of public swimming pools and public baths;
(11) plumbing, drainage, ventilation and sanitation of public buildings in the interest of public health;
(12) medical radiation, health and safety certification and standards for [radiologic technologists] medical imaging professionals and radiation therapists as provided in the Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Health and Safety Act;
(13) hazardous wastes and underground storage tanks as provided in the Hazardous Waste Act; [and]
(14) solid waste as provided in the Solid Waste Act; and
(15) any other area assigned by law.
B. Nothing in Subsection A of this section imposes requirements for the approval of subdivision plats in addition to those required elsewhere by law. Nothing in Subsection A of this section preempts the authority of any political subdivision to approve subdivision plats.
C. Administrative penalties collected pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of this section shall be deposited in the [water conservation] general fund to the credit of the current school fund.
D. On-site liquid waste system fees shall be deposited in the liquid waste fund.
[D.] E. Radiation license and registration and other related fees shall be deposited in the radiation protection fund."
SECTION 59. Section 74-1-10 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 340, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-1-10. PENALTY.--
A. A person who violates any [regulation] rule of the board is guilty of a petty misdemeanor. This section does not apply to any [regulation] rule for which a criminal penalty is otherwise provided by law.
B. Whenever, on the basis of any information, the secretary determines that a person has violated, is violating or threatens to violate any provision of Paragraph (2) or (3) of Subsection A of Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978 or any rule [regulation] or permit condition adopted and promulgated thereunder, the secretary may:
(1) issue a compliance order stating with reasonable specificity the nature of the violation or threatened violation, requiring compliance immediately or within a specified time period and assessing a civil penalty for any past or current violation, or both; or
(2) commence a civil action in district court for appropriate relief, including a temporary or permanent injunction.
C. An order issued pursuant to Subsection B of this section may include suspension or revocation of any permit issued by the department. Any penalty assessed in the order, except for residential on-site liquid waste systems, shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation. Any penalty assessed in the order for a residential on-site liquid waste system shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100) for each violation. A penalty imposed for violation of drinking water regulations 20 NMAC 7.1 or permit conditions shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation per day. In assessing the penalty, the secretary shall take into account the seriousness of the violation and any good-faith efforts to comply with the applicable requirements.
D. If a violator fails to take corrective actions within the time specified in the compliance order, the secretary shall:
(1) assess civil penalties of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each noncompliance with the order; and
(2) suspend or revoke any permit issued to the violator pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978.
E. An order issued pursuant to this section shall become final unless, no later than thirty days after the order is served, the person named in the order submits a written request to the secretary for a hearing. Upon such a request, the secretary shall conduct a hearing. The secretary shall appoint an independent hearing officer to preside over the hearing. The hearing officer shall make and preserve a complete record of the proceedings and forward [his] the hearing officer's recommendation based on the record to the secretary, who shall make the final decision.
F. In connection with any proceeding pursuant to this section, the secretary may issue subpoenas for the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant papers, books and documents and may adopt and promulgate rules for discovery procedures.
G. Penalties collected pursuant to violations of rules, regulations or permit conditions adopted pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978 shall be deposited in the state treasury to be credited to the general fund.
H. Penalties collected pursuant to violations of drinking water regulations 20 NMAC 7.1 or permit conditions pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of Section 74-1-8 NMSA 1978 shall be deposited in the [state treasury to the credit of the water conservation] general fund for credit to the current school fund."
SECTION 60. Section 74-2-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 277, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-2-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Air Quality Control Act:
A. "air contaminant" means a substance, including any particulate matter, fly ash, dust, fumes, gas, mist, smoke, vapor, micro-organisms, radioactive material, any combination thereof or any decay or reaction product thereof;
B. "air pollution" means the emission, except emission that occurs in nature, into the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in quantities and of a duration that may with reasonable probability injure human health or animal or plant life or as may unreasonably interfere with the public welfare, visibility or the reasonable use of property;
C. "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
D. "director" means the administrative head of a local agency;
E. "emission limitation" or "emission standard" means a requirement established by the environmental improvement board or the local board, the department, the local authority or the local agency or pursuant to the federal act that limits the quantity, rate or concentration, or combination thereof, of emissions of air contaminants on a continuous basis, including any requirements relating to the operation or maintenance of a source to assure continuous reduction;
F. "federal act" means the federal Clean Air Act, its subsequent amendments and successor provisions;
G. "federal standard of performance" means a standard of performance, emission limitation or emission standard adopted pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 7411 or 7412;
H. "hazardous air pollutant" means an air contaminant that has been listed as a hazardous air pollutant pursuant to the federal act;
I. "local agency" means the administrative agency established by a local authority pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of Section 74-2-4 NMSA 1978;
J. "local authority" means any of the following political subdivisions of the state that have, by following the procedure set forth in Subsection A of Section 74-2-4 NMSA 1978, assumed jurisdiction for local administration and enforcement of the Air Quality Control Act:
(1) a county that was a class A county as of January 1, 1980; or
(2) a municipality with a population greater than one hundred thousand located within a county that was a class A county as of January 1, 1980;
K. "local board" means a municipal, county or joint air quality control board created by a local authority;
L. "mandatory class I area" means any of the following areas in this state that were in existence on August 7, 1977:
(1) national wilderness areas that exceed five thousand acres in size; and
(2) national parks that exceed six thousand acres in size;
M. "modification" means a physical change in, or change in the method of operation of, a source that results in an increase in the potential emission rate of a regulated air contaminant emitted by the source or that results in the emission of a regulated air contaminant not previously emitted, but does not include:
(1) a change in ownership of the source;
(2) routine maintenance, repair or replacement;
(3) installation of air pollution control equipment, and all related process equipment and materials necessary for its operation, undertaken for the purpose of complying with regulations adopted by the environmental improvement board or the local board or pursuant to the federal act; or
(4) unless previously limited by enforceable permit conditions:
(a) an increase in the production rate, if such increase does not exceed the operating design capacity of the source;
(b) an increase in the hours of operation; or
(c) use of an alternative fuel or raw material if, prior to January 6, 1975, the source was capable of accommodating such fuel or raw material or if use of an alternate fuel or raw material is caused by a natural gas curtailment or emergency allocation or [an other] another lack of supply of natural gas;
N. "nonattainment area" means for an air contaminant an area that is designated "nonattainment" with respect to that contaminant within the meaning of Section 107(d) of the federal act;
O. "person" includes an individual, partnership, corporation, association, the state or political subdivision of the state and any agency, department or instrumentality of the United States and any of their officers, agents or employees;
P. "potential emission rate" means the emission rate of a source at its maximum capacity to emit a regulated air contaminant under its physical and operational design, provided any physical or operational limitation on the capacity of the source to emit a regulated air contaminant, including air pollution control equipment and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or amount of material combusted, stored or processed, shall be treated as part of its physical and operational design only if the limitation or the effect it would have on emissions is enforceable by the department or the local agency pursuant to the Air Quality Control Act or the federal act;
Q. "regulated air contaminant" means an air contaminant, the emission or ambient concentration of which is regulated pursuant to the Air Quality Control Act or the federal act;
R. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment;
S. "significant deterioration" means an increase in the ambient concentrations of an air contaminant above the levels allowed by the federal act or federal regulations for that air contaminant in the area within which the increase occurs;
T. "source" means a structure, building, equipment, facility, installation or operation that emits or may emit an air contaminant;
U. "standard of performance" means a requirement of continuous emission reduction, including any requirement relating to operation or maintenance of a source to assure continuous emission reduction;
V. "state implementation plan" means a plan submitted by New Mexico to the federal environmental protection agency pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 7410; and
W. "toxic air pollutant" means an air contaminant, except a hazardous air pollutant, classified by the environmental improvement board or the local board as a toxic air pollutant."
SECTION 61. Section 74-3-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1971, Chapter 284, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-3-4. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Radiation Protection Act:
A. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
B. "agency" or "division" means the environmental protection division of the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
C. "council" means the radiation technical advisory council;
D. "radiation" includes particulate and electromagnetic radiation and ultrasound, but does not include audible sound;
E. "radioactive material" includes any materials or sources, regardless of chemical or physical state, that emit radiation;
F. "radiation equipment" means any device that is capable of producing radiation;
G. "agreement state" means any state with which the nuclear regulatory commission has entered into an agreement under Section 274(b) of the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended;
H. "person" means any individual, partnership, firm, public or private corporation, association, trust, estate, political subdivision or agency, or any other legal entity or its legal representatives, agents or assigns;
I. "continued care fund" means the radiation protection continued care fund;
J. "director" means the director of the division;
K. "nuclear regulatory commission" means the United States nuclear regulatory commission; and
L. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment."
SECTION 62. Section 74-4-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 313, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-4-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Hazardous Waste Act:
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. "Above ground storage tank" does not include any:
(1) farm, ranch or residential tank used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
(2) 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;
(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 to oil field service industry operations;
(7) tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(8) pipes connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (7) 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] its 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. "director" or "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment;
E. "disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters;
F. "division" or "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
G. "federal agency" means any department, agency or other instrumentality of the federal government and any independent agency or establishment of that government, including any government corporation and the government printing office;
H. "generator" means any person producing hazardous waste;
I. "hazardous agricultural waste" means hazardous waste generated as part of the licensed activity by any person licensed pursuant to the Pesticide Control Act or hazardous waste designated as hazardous agricultural waste by the board, but does not include animal excrement in connection with farm, ranch or feedlot operations;
J. "hazardous substance incident" means [any] an emergency incident involving a chemical or chemicals, including but not limited to transportation wrecks, accidental spills or leaks, fires or explosions, which incident creates the reasonable probability of injury to human health or property;
K. "hazardous waste" means any solid waste or combination of solid wastes that because of their quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may:
(1) cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or
(2) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed. "Hazardous waste" does not include any of the following, until the board determines that they are subject to Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.:
(a) drilling fluids, produced waters and other wastes associated with the exploration, development or production of crude oil or natural gas or geothermal energy;
(b) fly ash waste;
(c) bottom ash waste;
(d) slag waste;
(e) flue gas emission control waste generated primarily from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuels;
(f) solid waste from the extraction, beneficiation or processing of ores and minerals, including phosphate rock and overburden from the mining of uranium ore; or
(g) cement kiln dust waste;
L. "manifest" means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, origin, routing and destination of hazardous waste during transportation from point of generation to point of disposal, treatment or storage;
M. "person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, federal agency, corporation, including a government corporation, partnership, association, state, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a state or any interstate body;
N. "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, as amended; and
(2) 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;
O. "solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, 86 Stat. 880, or source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 68 Stat. 923;
P. "storage" means the containment of hazardous waste, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous waste;
Q. "storage tank" means an above ground storage tank or an underground storage tank;
R. "tank installer" means any individual who installs or repairs a storage tank;
S. "transporter" means a person engaged in the movement of hazardous waste, not including movement at the site of generation, disposal, treatment or storage;
T. "treatment" means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of a hazardous waste so as to neutralize the waste or so as to render the waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery, amenable to storage or reduced in volume. "Treatment" includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous;
U. "underground storage tank" means a single tank or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that [are] is 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. "Underground storage tank" does not include any:
(1) farm, ranch or residential tank of one thousand one hundred gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
(2) septic tank;
(3) pipeline facility, including gathering lines, that is 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 used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(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; and
V. "used oil" means any oil that [has been] is either refined from crude oil or [any] is synthetic [oil, that] and has been used and as a result of such use is contaminated by physical or chemical impurities."
SECTION 63. Section 74-4C-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1985 (1st S.S.), Chapter 4, Section 3) is amended to read:
"74-4C-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Hazardous Waste Feasibility Study Act:
A. "committee" means the radioactive and hazardous materials committee;
B. "division" means the environmental [improvement] protection division of the [health] natural resources and environment department;
C. "hazardous waste" means garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or other discarded material, including solid, liquid or semisolid material or containing gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining or agricultural operations, other than waste pesticides disposed of by a farmer pursuant to Section 74-4-3.1 NMSA 1978, or from community activities [which] that, because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed. [The term] "Hazardous waste" does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or animal excrement in connection with farm, ranch or feedlot operations, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges [which] that are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, as the provisions exist on January 1, 1981; or source, special or byproduct material as defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, as these definitions exist on January 1, 1981; or any of the following, until the environmental improvement board determines that they are subject to Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.): drilling fluids, produced waters and other wastes associated with the exploration, development or production of crude oil or natural gas or geothermal energy; any fly ash waste, bottom ash waste, slag waste or flue gas emission control waste generated primarily from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuels; solid waste from the extraction, beneficiation or processing of ores and minerals, including phosphate rock and overburden from the mining of uranium ore; cement kiln dust waste; or pesticide waste disposed of by any farmer from [his] the farmer's own use, provided that [he] the farmer triple rinses each emptied pesticide container and disposes of the pesticide residues on [his] the farmer's own farm in a manner consistent with the disposal instructions on the pesticide label; and
D. "hazardous waste activity" means the generation, treatment, storage, transportation or disposal of hazardous waste."
SECTION 64. Section 74-4G-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 38, Section 3) is amended to read:
"74-4G-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Voluntary Remediation Act:
A. "applicable standards" means federal, state or local standards, requirements, criteria or limitations that are legally applicable to the facility;
B. "applicant" means a person that elects to submit an application to participate and enter into an agreement under the Voluntary Remediation Act;
C. "contaminant" means the following substances within the jurisdiction of the department:
(1) solid waste;
(2) hazardous waste as defined in 20 NMAC 4.1.200;
(3) an RCRA hazardous waste constituent listed in Appendices VIII and IX in 20 NMAC 4.1.200;
(4) any substance that could alter, if discharged or spilled, the physical, chemical, biological or radiological qualities of water; or
(5) a hazardous substance, as defined by Section 101(14) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 and 40 C.F.R. Part 302, Table 302.4;
D. "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
E. "enforcement action" means:
(1) a written notice from the department or other state agency that requires abatement of contamination under 20 NMAC 6.2;
(2) a written order from the department or other state agency that requires or involves the removal or remediation of contaminants;
(3) a judicial action by the department or other state agency seeking the abatement of contamination or the remediation of contaminants; or
(4) a notice, order or judicial action similar to those enumerated in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection, but initiated by the federal government;
F. "fraud" means the knowingly false representation, whether by words or conduct and whether by inaccurate or misleading allegations or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, that is intended to deceive or circumvent the intent of this statute;
G. "participant" means an applicant that has been approved by the department as eligible for and that signs and performs an agreement pursuant to the provisions of the Voluntary Remediation Act;
H. "person" means an individual or any other entity, including partnerships, corporations, associations, responsible business or association agents or officers, the state or a political subdivision of the state or any agency, department or instrumentality of the United States and any of its officers, agents or employees;
I. "release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping or disposing into the environment, including abandonment or discarding of any contaminant;
J. "remediation" means:
(1) actions necessary to investigate, prevent, minimize or mitigate damages to the public health or to the environment that may otherwise result from a release or threat of release; and
(2) the cleanup or removal of released contaminants to conform with applicable standards;
K. "site" means a parcel of real property for which an application has been submitted pursuant to the provisions of Section [5 of the Voluntary Remediation Act] 74-4G-5 NMSA 1978; and
L. "voluntary remediation" means remediation taken [under and] in compliance with the Voluntary Remediation Act."
SECTION 65. Section 74-6-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 190, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-6-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Water Quality Act:
A. "gray water" means untreated household wastewater that has not come in contact with toilet waste and includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, washbasins, clothes washing machines and laundry tubs, but does not include wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers or laundry water from the washing of material soiled with human excreta, such as diapers;
B. "water contaminant" means any substance that could alter, if discharged or spilled, the physical, chemical, biological or radiological qualities of water. "Water contaminant" does not mean source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954;
C. "water pollution" means introducing or permitting the introduction into water, either directly or indirectly, of one or more water contaminants in such quantity and of such duration as may with reasonable probability injure human health, animal or plant life or property, or to unreasonably interfere with the public welfare or the use of property;
D. "wastes" means sewage, industrial wastes or any other liquid, gaseous or solid substance that may pollute any waters of the state;
E. "sewer system" means pipelines, conduits, pumping stations, force mains or any other structures, devices, appurtenances or facilities used for collecting or conducting wastes to an ultimate point for treatment or disposal;
F. "treatment works" means any plant or other works used for the purpose of treating, stabilizing or holding wastes;
G. "sewerage system" means a system for disposing of wastes, either by surface or underground methods, and includes sewer systems, treatment works, disposal wells and other systems;
H. "water" means all water, including water situated wholly or partly within or bordering upon the state, whether surface or subsurface, public or private, except private waters that do not combine with other surface or subsurface water;
I. "person" means an individual or any other entity, including partnerships, corporations, associations, responsible business or association agents or officers, the state or a political subdivision of the state or any agency, department or instrumentality of the United States and any of its officers, agents or employees;
J. "commission" means the water quality control commission;
K. "constituent agency" means, as the context may require, any or all of the following agencies of the state:
(1) the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
(2) the state engineer and the interstate stream commission;
(3) the department of game and fish;
(4) the oil conservation commission;
(5) the state parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department;
(6) the New Mexico department of agriculture;
(7) the soil and water conservation commission; and
(8) the bureau of geology and mineral resources at the New Mexico institute of mining and technology;
L. "new source" means:
(1) any source, the construction of which is commenced after the publication of proposed regulations prescribing a standard of performance applicable to the source; or
(2) any existing source when modified to treat substantial additional volumes or when there is a substantial change in the character of water contaminants treated;
M. "source" means a building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of water contaminants directly or indirectly into water;
N. "septage" means the residual wastes and water periodically pumped from a liquid waste treatment unit or from a holding tank for maintenance or disposal purposes;
O. "sludge" means solid, semi-solid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility that is associated with the treatment of these wastes. "Sludge" does not mean treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant;
P. "substantial adverse environmental impact" means that an act or omission of the violator causes harm or damage:
(1) to human beings; or
(2) that amounts to more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) damage or mitigation costs to flora, including agriculture crops; fish or other aquatic life; waterfowl or other birds; livestock or wildlife or damage to their habitats; ground water or surface water; or the lands of the state;
Q. "federal act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, its subsequent amendment and successor provisions; and
R. "standards of performance" means any standard, effluent limitation or effluent standard adopted pursuant to the federal act or the Water Quality Act."
SECTION 66. Section 74-6-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 190, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-6-3. WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION CREATED.--
A. [There is created] The "water quality control commission" is created, consisting of:
(1) the secretary of natural resources and environment or a member of the secretary's staff designated by the secretary;
(2) the secretary of health or a member of the secretary's staff designated by the secretary;
(3) the director of the department of game and fish or a member of the director's staff designated by the director;
(4) the state engineer or a member of the state engineer's staff designated by the state engineer;
(5) the chair of the oil conservation commission or a member of the chair's staff designated by the chair;
(6) the director of the state parks division of the [energy, minerals and] natural resources and environment department or a member of the director's staff designated by the director;
(7) the director of the New Mexico department of agriculture or a member of the director's staff designated by the director;
(8) the chair of the soil and water conservation commission or a soil and water conservation district supervisor designated by the chair;
(9) the director of the bureau of geology and mineral resources at the New Mexico institute of mining and technology or a member of the director's staff designated by the director;
(10) a municipal or county government representative; and
(11) four representatives of the public to be appointed by the governor for terms of four years and who shall be compensated from the budgeted funds of the natural resources and environment department [of environment] in accordance with the provisions of the Per Diem and Mileage Act. At least one member appointed by the governor shall be a member of a New Mexico Indian tribe or pueblo.
B. A member of the commission shall not receive, or shall not have received during the previous two years, a significant portion of the member's income directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for a permit. A member of the commission shall, upon the acceptance of the member's appointment and prior to the performance of any of the member's duties, file a statement of disclosure with the secretary of state disclosing any amount of money or other valuable consideration, and its source, the value of which is in excess of ten percent of the member's gross personal income in each of the preceding two years, that the member received directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for permits required under the Water Quality Act. A member of the commission shall not participate in the consideration of an appeal if the subject of the appeal is an application filed or a permit held by an entity that either employs the commission member or from which the commission member received more than ten percent of the member's gross personal income in either of the preceding two years.
C. The commission shall elect a chair and other necessary officers and shall keep a record of its proceedings.
D. A majority of the commission constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business, but no action of the commission is valid unless concurred in by six or more members present at a meeting.
E. The commission is the state water pollution control agency for this state for all purposes of the federal act and the wellhead protection and sole source aquifer programs of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 and may take all action necessary and appropriate to secure to this state, its political subdivisions or interstate agencies the benefits of that act and those programs.
F. The commission is administratively attached, as defined in the Executive Reorganization Act, to the [department of] natural resources and environment department."
SECTION 67. Section 74-6A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 72, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-6A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Wastewater Facility Construction Loan Act:
A. "administrative fee" means a fee assessed and collected by the department from a local authority on each loan and expressed as a percentage per year on the outstanding principal amount of the loan, payable by the borrower on the same date that principal and interest on the loan are due, for deposit in the clean water administrative fund;
B. "commission" means the water quality control commission;
C. "division" or "department" means the [department of] natural resources and environment department;
D. "financial assistance" means loans, the purchase or refinancing of existing local political subdivision obligations, loan guarantees, credit enhancement techniques to reduce interest on loans and bonds, bond insurance and bond guarantees or any combination of these purposes;
E. "fund" means the wastewater facility construction loan fund;
F. "local authority" means any municipality, county, incorporated county, sanitation district, water and sanitation district or any similar district, recognized Indian tribe or other issuing agency created pursuant to a joint powers agreement acting on behalf of any entity listed in this subsection;
G. "operate and maintain" means to perform all necessary activities, including replacement of equipment or appurtenances, to ensure the dependable and economical function of a wastewater facility in accordance with its intended purpose;
H. "wastewater facility" means a publicly owned system for treating or disposing of sewage or wastes either by surface or underground methods, including any equipment, plant, treatment works, structure, machinery, apparatus or land, in any combination, that is acquired, used, constructed or operated for the storage, collection, reduction, recycling, reclamation, disposal, separation or treatment of water or wastes or for the final disposal of residues resulting from the treatment of water or wastes, such as pumping and ventilating stations, facilities, plants and works, outfall sewers, interceptor sewers and collector sewers and other real or personal property and appurtenances incident to their use or operation. "Wastewater facility" also includes a nonpoint source water pollution control project as eligible under the Clean Water Act;
I. "account" means the wastewater suspense account;
J. "board" means the state board of finance;
K. "bonds" means wastewater bonds or other obligations authorized by the commission to be issued by the board pursuant to the Wastewater Facility Construction Loan Act;
L. "Clean Water Act" means the federal Clean Water Act of 1977 and its subsequent amendments or successor provisions;
M. "federal securities" means direct obligations of the United States, or obligations the principal and interest of which are unconditionally guaranteed by the United States, or an ownership interest in either of the foregoing;
N. "force account construction" means construction performed by the employees of a local authority rather than through a contractor;
O. "holders" means persons who are owners of bonds, whether registered or not, issued pursuant to the Wastewater Facility Construction Loan Act;
P. "issuing resolution" means a formal statement adopted by the board to issue bonds pursuant to the Wastewater Facility Construction Loan Act, including any trust agreement, trust indenture or similar instrument providing terms and conditions for the bonds to be issued; and
Q. "recommending resolution" means a formal statement adopted by the commission recommending to the board that bonds be issued pursuant to the Wastewater Facility Construction Loan Act, including any trust agreement, trust indenture or similar instrument providing the terms and conditions for the bonds that are issued."
SECTION 68. Section 74-6B-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 124, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"74-6B-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Ground Water Protection Act:
A. "above ground storage tank" means a single tank or a combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that [are] is 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 for noncommercial purposes;
(2) pipeline facility, including gathering lines, that [are] is 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 oil field service industry operations;
(7) tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(8) [pipes] pipe connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (7) of this subsection; or
(9) [tanks] tank or related [pipelines] pipeline and [facilities] facility owned or used by a refinery, natural gas processing plant or pipeline company in the regular course of [their] its 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] natural resources and environment department;
E. "operator" means any person in control of or having responsibility for the daily operation of a storage tank;
F. "owner":
(1) means:
(a) in the case of a storage tank in use or brought into use on or after November 8, 1984, a person who owns a storage tank used for storage, use or dispensing of regulated substances; and
(b) 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; and
(2) excludes, for purposes of tank registration requirements only, a person who:
(a) had an underground storage tank taken out of operation on or before January 1, 1974;
(b) had an underground storage tank taken out of operation after January 1, 1974 and removed from the ground prior to November 8, 1984; or
(c) had an above ground storage tank taken out of operation on or before July 1, 2001;
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 natural resources and 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] is 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 for noncommercial purposes;
(2) septic tank;
(3) pipeline facility, including gathering lines, that is 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 used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(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] pipe connected to any tank that is described in Paragraphs (1) through (10) of this subsection."
SECTION 69. Section 74-7-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 29, Section 3) is amended to read:
"74-7-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Environmental Compliance Act:
A. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
B. "director" means the director of the division;
C. "division" means the environmental [improvement] protection division of the [health] natural resources and environment department;
D. "environmental audit" means a systematic assessment, analysis and evaluation by a regulated entity of its compliance with environmental laws and [regulations] rules administered by the board and the division, applicable to its operation; and
E. "regulated entity" means any person, partnership, corporation, firm, association, governmental or other entity organized and engaging in any business or activity in the state [which] that deals with or has an impact on the environment of this state or [which] that must by law comply with federal or state environmental protection [regulations] rules."
SECTION 70. Section 74-9-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 99, Section 3) is amended to read:
"74-9-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Solid Waste Act:
A. "agricultural" means all methods of production and management of livestock, crops, vegetation and soil. This includes, but is not limited to, raising, harvesting and marketing. It also includes, but is not limited to, the activities of feeding, housing and maintaining animals such as cattle, dairy cows, sheep, goats, hogs, horses and poultry;
B. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
C. "commercial hauler" means any person transporting solid waste for hire by whatever means for the purpose of disposing of the solid waste in a solid waste facility, except that [the term] "commercial hauler" does not include an individual transporting solid waste generated on or from [his] the person's residential premises for the purpose of disposing of it in a solid waste facility;
D. "construction and demolition debris" means materials generally considered to be not water soluble and nonhazardous in nature, including, but not limited to, steel, glass, brick, concrete, asphalt roofing materials, pipe, gypsum wallboard and lumber from the construction or destruction of a structure as part of a construction or demolition project, and includes rocks, soil, tree remains, trees and other vegetative matter that normally results from land clearing or land development operations for a construction project, but if construction and demolition debris is mixed with any other types of solid waste, whether or not originating from the construction project, it loses its classification as construction and demolition debris;
E. "densified-refuse-derived fuel" means a product resulting from the processing of mixed municipal solid waste in a manner that produces a fuel suitable for combustion in existing or new solid-fuel-fired boilers;
F. "director" means the director of the [environmental improvement] division [of the health and environment department];
G. "division" means the environmental [improvement] protection division of the [health] natural resources and environment department;
H. "municipality" means any incorporated city, town or village, whether incorporated under general act, special act or special charter, incorporated counties and H class counties;
I. "person" means an individual or any entity, including federal, state and local governmental entities, however organized;
J. "plan" or "state plan" means the solid waste management plan required to be developed under Section [4 of the Solid Waste Act] 74-9-4 NMSA 1978;
K. "program" or "state program" means the comprehensive state solid waste management program described in Section [12 of the Solid Waste Act] 74-9-12 NMSA 1978;
L. "recyclable materials" means materials that would otherwise become solid waste if not recycled and that can be collected, separated or processed and placed in use in the form of raw materials, products or densified-refuse-derived fuels;
M. "recycling" means any process by which recyclable materials are collected, separated or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products;
N. "solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations and from community activities. "Solid waste" does not include:
(1) drilling fluids, produced waters and other nondomestic wastes associated with the exploration, development or production, transportation, storage, treatment or refinement of crude oil, natural gas, carbon dioxide gas or geothermal energy;
(2) fly ash waste, bottom ash waste, slag waste and flue gas emission control waste generated primarily from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuels and wastes produced in conjunction with the combustion of fossil fuels that are necessarily associated with the production of energy and that traditionally have been and actually are mixed with and are disposed of or treated at the same time with fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag or flue gas emission control wastes from coal combustion;
(3) waste from the extraction, beneficiation and processing of ores and minerals, including phosphate rock and overburden from the mining of uranium ore, coal, copper, molybdenum and other ores and minerals;
(4) agricultural waste, including, but not limited to, manures and crop residues returned to the soil as fertilizer or soil conditioner;
(5) cement kiln dust waste;
(6) sand and gravel;
(7) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. Section 1342 or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. Section 2011 et seq.;
(8) densified-refuse-derived fuel; or
(9) any material regulated by Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, substances regulated by the federal Toxic Substances Control Act or low-level radioactive waste;
O. "solid waste district" means a geographical area designated by the board as a solid waste district under Section [11 of the Solid Waste Act] 74-9-11 NMSA 1978;
P. "solid waste facility" means any public or private system, facility, location, improvements on the land, structures or other appurtenances or methods used for processing, transformation, recycling or disposal of solid waste, including landfill disposal facilities, transfer stations, resource recovery facilities, incinerators and other similar facilities not specified, but does not include equipment specifically approved by order of the director to render medical waste noninfectious or a facility [which] that is permitted pursuant to the provisions of the Hazardous Waste Act and does not apply to a facility fueled by a densified-refuse-derived fuel that accepts no other solid waste;
Q. "source reduction" means any action that causes a net reduction in the generation, volume or toxicity of solid waste;
R. "special waste" means solid waste that has unique handling, transportation or disposal requirements to assure protection of the environment and the public health and safety;
S. "transformation" means incineration, pyrolysis, distillation, gasification or biological conversion other than composting; and
T. "yard refuse" means vegetative matter resulting from landscaping, land maintenance and land clearing operations."
SECTION 71. Section 74-13-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2005, Chapter 171, Section 3) is amended to read:
"74-13-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act:
A. "abatement" means to reduce in amount, degree or intensity or to eliminate;
B. "agricultural use" means the beneficial use of scrap tires in conjunction with the operations of a farm or ranch that includes construction projects and aids in the storage of feed;
C. "alliance" means the recycling and illegal dumping alliance;
D. "board" means the environmental improvement board;
E. "civil engineering application" means the use of scrap tires or other recycled material in conjunction with other aggregate materials in engineering applications;
F. "composting" means the process by which biological decomposition of organic material is carried out under controlled conditions and the process stabilizes the organic fraction into a material that can be easily and safely stored, handled and used in an environmentally acceptable manner;
G. "cooperative association" means a refuse disposal district created pursuant to the Refuse Disposal Act, a sanitation district created pursuant to the Water and Sanitation District Act, a special district created pursuant to the Special District Procedures Act or other associations created pursuant to the Joint Powers Agreements Act or the Solid Waste Authority Act;
H. "department" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
I. "dispose" means to deposit scrap tires or solid waste into or on any land or water;
J. "household" means any single and multiple residence, hotel or motel, bunkhouse, ranger station, crew quarters, campground, picnic ground or day-use recreation area;
K. "illegal dumping" means disposal of trash, scrap tires or any solid waste in a manner that violates the Solid Waste Act or the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act;
L. "illegal dumpsite" means a place where illegal dumping has occurred except as stated in Subsection A of Section [4 of the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act] 74-13-4 NMSA 1978;
M. "market development" means activities to expand or create markets for recyclable and reusable materials;
N. "motor vehicle" means a vehicle or device that is propelled by an internal combustion engine or electric motor power that is used or may be used on the public highways for the purpose of transporting persons or property and includes any connected trailer or semitrailer;
O. "processing" means techniques to change physical, chemical or biological character or composition of solid waste but does not include composting, transformation or open burning;
P. "recycling" means any process by which recyclable materials are collected, separated or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products;
Q. "reuse" means the return of a commodity into the economic stream without a change to its original form;
R. "scrap tire" means a tire that is no longer suitable for its originally intended purpose because of wear, damage or defect;
S. "scrap tire baling" means the process by which scrap tires are mechanically compressed and bound into block form;
T. "scrap tire generator" means a person who generates scrap tires, including retail tire dealers, retreaders, scrap tire processors, automobile dealers, automobile salvage yards, private company vehicle maintenance shops, garages, service stations and city, county and state government, but does not include persons who generate scrap tires in a household or in agricultural operations;
U. "scrap tire hauler" means a person who transports scrap tires for hire for the purpose of recycling, disposal, transformation or use in a civil engineering application;
V. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment;
W. "tire" means a continuous solid or pneumatic rubber covering that encircles the wheel of a motor vehicle;
X. "tire-derived fuel" means whole or chipped tires that produce a low sulfur, high-heating-value fuel;
Y. "tire-derived product" means a usable product produced from the processing of a scrap tire but does not include baled tires;
Z. "tire recycling" means a process in which scrap tires are collected, stored, separated or reprocessed for reuse as a different product or shredded into a form suitable for use in rubberized asphalt or as raw material for the manufacture of other products; and
AA. "tire recycling facility" means a place operated or maintained for tire recycling but does not include:
(1) retail business premises where tires are sold, if no more than five hundred loose scrap tires or two thousand scrap tires, if left in a closed conveyance or enclosure, are kept on the premises at one time;
(2) the premises of a tire retreading business, if no more than three thousand scrap tires are kept on the premises at one time;
(3) premises where tires are removed from motor vehicles in the ordinary course of business, if no more than five hundred scrap tires are kept on the premises at one time;
(4) a solid waste facility having a valid permit or registration issued pursuant to the provisions of the Solid Waste Act or regulations adopted pursuant to that act or registration issued pursuant to the Environmental Improvement Act; or
(5) a site where tires are stored or used for agricultural uses."
SECTION 72. Section 75-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 333, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"75-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Rural Infrastructure Act:
A. "department" means the natural resources and environment department [of environment];
B. "fund" means the rural infrastructure revolving loan fund;
C. "local authority" means a mutual domestic association or water and sanitation district that supplies water, wastewater or solid waste services to, or a municipality that has, a population of less than twenty thousand or a county with a population of less than two hundred thousand;
D. "operate and maintain" means all necessary activities, including replacement of equipment or appurtenances to assure the dependable and economical function of a facility in accordance with its intended purpose;
E. "secretary" means the secretary of natural resources and environment;
F. "solid waste facility" includes transfer and convenience facilities, landfills or other equipment or systems used for the processing, transformation, recycling or disposal of solid waste;
G. "wastewater facility" includes collection lines, pumping equipment, treatment works and disposal piping or process units; and
H. "water supply facility" includes the source of supply of water, pumping equipment, storage facilities, transmission lines, treatment works and distribution systems."
SECTION 73. Section 75-7-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 292, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"75-7-2. NATURAL RESOURCES TRUSTEE--OFFICE OF NATURAL RESOURCES TRUSTEE.--[A.] The "natural resources trustee" is created. The [trustee is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the governor] secretary of natural resources and environment shall serve as the natural resources trustee pursuant to the provisions of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and any other applicable federal law. The natural resources trustee shall act on behalf of the public as trustee of natural resources within the state or belonging to, managed by, controlled by or appertaining to the state, including protecting and representing the state's interest under applicable federal laws regarding injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources in the state.
[B. The "office of natural resources trustee" is created. The office shall be administratively attached to the department of environment. The administrative head of the office of natural resources trustee is the natural resources trustee. For purposes of this subsection, the term "administratively attached" means the same as specified in Section 9-1-7 NMSA 1978.]"
SECTION 74. Section 75-7-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 292, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"75-7-3. NATURAL RESOURCES TRUSTEE POWERS AND DUTIES.--
A. The natural resources trustee shall take all actions necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the natural resources trustee as provided in the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and any other applicable federal law, including the responsibility to:
(1) act on behalf of the public to protect New Mexico's natural resources by recovering damages for injury to, destruction of or loss of those resources;
(2) investigate injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources;
(3) determine the amount and cause of injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources;
(4) determine the liability of any person for injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources;
(5) assess and collect damages for injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources, including bringing legal actions and collecting the costs of assessing and collecting the damages; and
(6) expend money for the purposes set forth in the Natural Resources Trustee Act.
B. The natural resources trustee may:
(1) hire staff, in accordance with the Personnel Act, to carry out the provisions of the Natural Resources Trustee Act;
(2) contract with economists, consultants and other experts; and
(3) accept gifts and grants to carry out the provisions of the Natural Resources Trustee Act. Gifts and grants accepted by the natural resources trustee shall be deposited in the natural resources trustee fund. C. The attorney general shall provide legal counsel and representation to the natural resources trustee [and the office of the natural resources trustee]."
SECTION 75. Section 75-7-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 292, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"75-7-5. NATURAL RESOURCES TRUSTEE FUND.--
A. The "natural resources trustee fund" is created in the state treasury. Money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it through gifts, grants, fees, penalties, bequests or any other source shall be delivered to the state treasurer and deposited in the fund. Money recovered for the state by or on behalf of the natural resources trustee shall be deposited in the natural resources trustee fund. The fund shall be administered by the natural resources trustee as a separate account and may consist of subaccounts that the natural resources trustee deems necessary to carry out the purposes of the fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the natural resources trustee or the trustee's designated representative. Money in the fund shall not revert to the general fund at the end of a fiscal year.
B. Pursuant to the following criteria, money in the natural resources trustee fund shall be used to carry out the provisions of the Natural Resources Trustee Act by restoring, replacing or acquiring natural resources in an area where natural resources have been injured, destroyed or lost, provided that money deposited in the fund because of injury to, destruction of or loss of natural resources in an area shall be disbursed to restore, replace or acquire natural resources in that same area:
(1) if an expenditure from the fund is necessary to comply with a court order or court-approved settlement or to match federal funds, then, pursuant to Sections 6-3-23 through 6-3-25 NMSA 1978, the natural resources trustee may request a budget increase and, if approved, the amount of the expenditure is appropriated;
(2) if money is received for reimbursement of assessment costs, then the natural resources trustee may expend money for injury assessment, and money is appropriated in that amount for that purpose; and
(3) any other expenditures from the fund shall be made only pursuant to appropriation by the legislature.
C. In addition to expenditures made pursuant to Subsection B of this section, money shall be appropriated annually by the legislature from the general fund for the purpose of providing for necessary personnel and other costs of the natural resources trustee and the attorney general [and the office of natural resources trustee] in carrying out the provisions of the Natural Resources Trustee Act, including the cost of investigation, assessment, collection or enforcement.
D. For purposes of this section, "assessment
costs" means the costs of restoration and the costs of collecting, compiling and analyzing information, statistics or data to determine damages for injuries to natural resources pursuant to the Natural Resources Trustee Act.
E. Money in the natural resources trustee fund
shall be invested as other state funds are invested, and interest and earnings from the fund shall not revert to the general fund but shall be credited to the natural resources trustee fund."
SECTION 76. TEMPORARY PROVISION--TRANSFERS--CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS--STATUTORY REFERENCES.--
A. On July 1, 2011, all functions, appropriations, money, records, furniture, equipment and other property of the following agencies shall be transferred to the natural resources and environment department:
(1) the energy, minerals and natural resources department;
(2) the department of environment; and
(3) the natural resources trustee.
B. On July 1, 2011, all functions, appropriations, money, records, furniture, equipment and other property of the:
(1) occupational health and safety review commission shall be transferred to the environmental improvement board; and
(2) coal surface mining commission shall be transferred to the mining commission.
C. On July 1, 2011, all contractual obligations of the:
(1) energy, minerals and natural resources department, the department of environment and the natural resources trustee shall be binding on the natural resources and environment department;
(2) occupational health and safety review commission shall be binding on the environmental improvement board; and
(3) coal surface mining commission shall be binding on the mining commission.
D. On July 1, 2011, all references in law to the:
(1) energy, minerals and natural resources department and the department of environment shall be deemed to be references to the natural resources and environment department;
(2) natural resources trustee shall be deemed to be references to the secretary of natural resources and environment;
(3) occupational health and safety review commission shall be deemed to be references to the environmental improvement board; and
(4) coal surface mining commission shall be deemed to be references to the mining commission.
SECTION 77. REPEAL.--
A. Sections 9-5A-1 through 9-5A-10 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987, Chapter 234, Sections 1 through 6, Laws 1997, Chapter 149, Section 3, Laws 1987, Chapter 234, Section 7, Laws 1992, Chapter 58, Section 8, Laws 2003, Chapter 129, Section 1 and Laws 2003, Chapter 133, Section 1, as amended) are repealed.
B. Sections 9-7A-1 through 9-7A-15 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1991, Chapter 25, Sections 1 through 12, Laws 1977, Chapter 253, Sections 77 and 78 and Laws 2003, Chapter 99, Section 1, as amended) are repealed.
C. Section 50-9-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 290, Section 6) is repealed.
D. Section 69-25A-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1979, Chapter 291, Section 4, as amended) is repealed.
SECTION 78. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2011.
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