Cases Scheduled for
Commission Meeting on April 9, 2026
Below is a preliminary list of cases scheduled to be heard at this OCC hearing. If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter,
or any other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the hearing, please contact Sheila Apodaca at (505) 699-8358 or through the New Mexico Relay Network
at 1-800-659-1779, no later than seven (7) business days prior to the hearing.
|
1.
|
26053
|
This appeal concerns whether a groundwater-right holder whose agricultural operations depend on
the aquifer underlying the township in which high-volume produced water disposal wells are proposed
may be categorically excluded from the permitting process without any opportunity to present evidence
regarding its protectable groundwater interests.
Desert Ram sought to intervene in proceedings involving four proposed saltwater disposal wells
that will inject large volumes of produced water, collectively up to 80,000 barrels per day, into shallow
formations, all in the same township where Desert Ram operates ranching and agricultural operations
dependent on groundwater.
The Hearing Examiner struck Desert Ram’s intervention on grounds that Desert Ram is not an
“affected person” within the Division’s notice radius and therefore lacks standing.
1
That ruling rests on three fundamental legal errors:
1. the Order collapses the Division’s notice provisions into a categorical standing rule not
contained in the Division’s regulations;
2. the Order resolves disputed factual issues regarding Desert Ram’s groundwater interests
without permitting any evidentiary record; and
3. the Order effectively requires Desert Ram to prove hydrogeologic connectivity and subsurface
impact before being allowed to participate in the proceeding designed to evaluate those
technical questions.
Each of these errors independently warrants reversal of the standing determination.
After issuance of the Order, Desert Ram submitted sworn evidence identifying its groundwater
wells and water rights and requested a limited evidentiary hearing on standing, but the Hearing Examiner
declined to allow any factual development on the issue. The Commission should reverse the Order or, at
minimum, allow a limited evidentiary hearing so that the standing question may be resolved based on a
complete factual record.
|
|
2.
|
24683
|
Application for Rulemaking, to amend 19.15.2, 19.15.2, 19.15.5, 19.15.8, 19.15.9, and 19.15.25 NMAC
|
|
3.
|
25875
|
APPLICATION OF OIL CONSERVATION
DIVISION TO ADOPT 19.15.41, 19.15.42, and
19.15.43 NMAC; STATEWIDE
|