A. Whenever the division determines that a person violated or is violating the Oil and Gas Act or any provision of any rule, order, permit or authorization issued pursuant to that act, the division may seek compliance and civil penalties by:

(1) issuing a notice of violation;

(2) commencing a civil action in district court for appropriate relief, including injunctive relief; or

(3) issuing a temporary cessation order if the division determines that the violation is causing or will cause an imminent danger to public health or safety or a significant imminent environmental harm. The cessation order will remain in effect until the earlier of when the violation is abated or thirty days unless a hearing is held before the division and a new order is issued.

B. A notice of violation issued pursuant to Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section shall state with reasonable specificity the nature of the violation, shall require compliance immediately or within a specified time period, shall provide notice of the availability of an informal review and the date of a hearing before the division and shall provide notice of potential sanctions, including assessing a penalty, suspending, canceling or terminating a permit or authorization, shutting in a well and plugging and abandonment of a well and forfeiting financial assurance pursuant to Section 70-2-14 NMSA 1978.

C. If the notice of violation is not resolved informally within thirty days after service of the notice, the division shall hold a hearing and determine whether the violation should be upheld and whether any sanctions, including civil penalties, shall be assessed. In assessing a penalty authorized by this section, the division shall take into account the seriousness of the violation, any good faith efforts to comply with the applicable requirements, any history of noncompliance under the Oil and Gas Act and other relevant factors. When a decision is rendered by the division after a hearing, any party of record adversely affected shall have the right to have the matter heard de novo before the commission pursuant to Section 70-2-13 NMSA 1978.

D. Any civil penalty assessed by a court or by the division or commission pursuant to this section may not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per day of noncompliance for each violation unless the violation presents a risk either to the health or safety of the public or of causing significant environmental harm, or unless the noncompliance continues beyond a time specified in the notice of violation or order issued by the division, commission or court, whereupon the civil penalty may not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per day of noncompliance for each violation. No penalty assessed by the division or commission after a hearing may exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000); provided that such limitation does not apply to penalties assessed by a court.

E. The commission shall make rules, pursuant to Section 70-2-12.2 NMSA 1978, providing procedures for the issuance of notices of violations, the assessment of penalties and the conduct of informal proceedings and hearings pursuant to this section.

F. It is unlawful, subject to a criminal penalty of a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both such fine and imprisonment, for any person to knowingly and willfully:

(1) violate any provision of the Oil and Gas Act or any rule, regulation or order of the commission or the division issued pursuant to that act; or

(2) do any of the following for the purpose of evading or violating the Oil and Gas Act or any rule, regulation or order of the commission or the division issued pursuant to that act:

(a) make any false entry or statement in a report required by the Oil and Gas Act or by any rule, regulation or order of the commission or division issued pursuant to that act;

(b) make or cause to be made any false entry in any record, account or memorandum required by the Oil and Gas Act or by any rule, regulation or order of the commission or division issued pursuant to that act;

(c) omit or cause to be omitted from any such record, account or memorandum full, true and correct entries; or

(d) remove from this state or destroy, mutilate, alter or falsify any such record, account or memorandum.

G. For the purposes of Subsection F of this section, each day of violation shall constitute a separate offense.

H. Any person who knowingly and willfully procures, counsels, aids or abets the commission of any act described in Subsection A or F of this section shall be subject to the same penalties as are prescribed in Subsection D or F of this section.

History: 1978 Comp., § 70-2-31, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 362, § 1; 2019, ch. 197, § 7.

The 2019 amendment, effective January 1, 2020, revised certain penalty provisions for violations of the Oil and Gas Act; deleted former Subsection A, added new Subsections A through E and redesignated former Subsections B through D as Subsections F through H, respectively; in Subsection G, after "Subsection", deleted "B" and added "F"; and in Subsection H, after "Subsection A or", deleted "B" and added "F", and after "prescribed", deleted "therein" and added "in Subsection D or F of this section".

Applicability. — Laws 2019, ch. 197, § 12 provided that the provisions of Laws 2019, ch. 197 apply to contracts entered into on and after July 1, 2019.