When notice of an application is required to be provided pursuant to Section 72-5-4, 72-5A-5, 72-6-6, 72-12-3 or 72-12B-1 NMSA 1978:

A. if the state engineer determines that notice of an application shall be published, the state engineer shall post electronically on the state engineer's website a notice that contains the essential facts of the application, the name of the newspaper in which the applicant will be required to publish notice, the contact information for the state engineer district office where the application and supporting documentation are located and the date by which objections may be filed, which shall be seventy days after the date of electronic posting on the state engineer's website;

B. within five days of posting electronic notice on the state engineer's website, the state engineer shall issue instructions to the applicant to publish notice of the application in a form and in the newspaper prescribed by the state engineer once a week for three consecutive weeks and requiring that the last date of publication shall be no less than ten days prior to the date by which objections may be filed with the state engineer. The newspaper shall be one that is published and distributed in each county affected by the diversion and in each county where the water will be or has been put to beneficial use, or if there is no such newspaper, then the newspaper shall be one of general circulation in the stream system;

C. the applicant shall file with the state engineer proof of publication as required within twenty days after the date of the last publication. In case of failure to file satisfactory proof of publication within the time required, the date of the application shall be the date of receipt of proofs of publication in proper form; and

D. if the last of the three consecutive weekly publications does not occur within sixty days of the date the state engineer electronically posts the notice on the state engineer's website, the applicant shall request that the state engineer prepare a new notice and electronically post the notice as prescribed in Subsection A of this section and issue new instructions for newspaper publication as prescribed in Subsection B of this section.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 88, § 1.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 88, § 8 made Laws 2019, ch. 88 effective July 1, 2019.