New Mexico Administrative Code

Separate applications shall be made for each lease and application shall be deemed for all acreage listed thereon or for that part thereof as may be available for leasing. If an application covers more than two thousand five hundred sixty (2,560) acres, or if all legal subdivisio…

Lands of other state agencies or school districts (other than state trust lands or escheat lands under the direct control of the commissioner) shall be leased only after the agency or body controlling same has made request in writing to the commissioner to make same available for…

If more than one (1) person shall sign an application, the first (1st) name appearing thereon shall be considered as the bona fide applicant and the lease shall issue only in the name first listed. Such person only will be recognized by the commissioner as the lessee and sole rec…

A prior application, if submitted in accordance with these rules and if in proper form, shall ordinarily be given a preference right to lease; provided, however, that neither this provision nor any other provision or combination of provisions contained in these rules shall ever b…

A. Applications received in the same delivery of open mail shall be deemed to have been filed simultaneously and shall be stamped as of the date and hour delivery was made to the New Mexico state land office. B. When newly acquired acreage is posted to the tract books, or when op…

When simultaneous applications for lease are filed for the same lands, they may be disposed of in either of the following methods, as the commissioner may decide: A. By submission of amended applications by the applicant in which case preference will be given to the applicant off…

The commissioner, at the commissioner's discretion, may at any time either before or after application is made, withhold any tract, subdivision or parcel of land from leasing, if in the commissioner's opinion the best interest of the trust would be served. Immediately after makin…

The commissioner may, at the commissioner's discretion, reject any pending application for lease and offer the acreage embraced therein for lease upon competitive bidding by sealed bids or at public auction to the bidder offering the highest bonus in addition to the minimum annua…

This Rule pertains to all geothermal resources on those lands held in trust by the commissioner of public lands under the terms of the Enabling Act and subsequent legislation (trust lands). This Rule governs the lessees of such trust lands entered into subsequent to the date of t…

Lands classified as "known geothermal fields" as provided in Section 6 of the Geothermal Resources Act (Section 19-13-6 NMSA 1978) shall be withdrawn, such withdrawal posted to the tract books, and such lands shall be leased at public auction only as provided in 19.2.7.18 NMAC, 1…

Regular lease sales will ordinarily be held on the third (3rd) Thursday of each month, or on the next business day following where the third (3rd) Thursday falls on a holiday. Special sales may also be held on other dates at the discretion of the commissioner.

Before any regular or special sale shall be held, the commissioner shall post in a conspicuous place in the New Mexico state land office, not less than ten (10) days before the date of the sale, a notice of same, specifying the place, date and hour of the sale, and containing a d…

In the event the sale is to be by sealed bids, bids will be received up to the hour set in the notice of sale, and all bids submitted will be opened at the appointed hour, and the lease will be awarded to the highest bidder, subject to the right of the commissioner to reject all …

In the event sale is by public auction, the successful bidder will be required to pay the filing fee as set forth in the schedule of fees, the first (1st) year's rental and bonus offered on or before close of business on the date of sale.

If no bids are received for any tract described in the notice, said tract shall be considered as withdrawn until further notice and proper notations made upon the mineral tract books.

In the event the sale is by sealed bid and in the event two (2) or more highest bids are received for the same tract, offering the same bonus, the lease shall be disposed of by submission of amended applications by the applicants, in which case preference will be given to the app…

Leases are to be made upon forms prescribed and furnished by the commissioner.

No person, association or corporation shall take, hold, own or control any interest, direct or indirect, in state geothermal resources leases exceeding fifty-one thousand two hundred (51,200) acres.

Subject to such conditions as the commissioner may require, leases may be assigned in whole or in part; however, no assignment of an undivided interest in a lease or any part thereof, or any assignment of less than a legal subdivision or tract shall be recognized or approved by t…

The commissioner's authority to manage the trust lands is found in N.M. Const., Art. XIII, and in Section 19-1-1 NMSA 1978. The authority to promulgate this Rule is found in Section 19-1-2 NMSA 1978.

All assignments shall be upon forms prescribed and furnished by the commissioner which shall recite, among other things, the consideration paid for the assignment. The fee for filing shall be as set forth in the schedule of fees.

The commissioner may refuse to approve any assignment and may condition the commissioner's approval on such additional terms and compensation as the commissioner may deem in the best interests of the trust.

Upon approval of the commissioner, the assignor shall be relieved from all obligations owing to the state of New Mexico with respect to the lands embraced in the assignment, and the state shall likewise be relieved from all obligations to the assignor as to the said lands, and th…

When any assignment of a portion of the lease shall be approved by the commissioner, the assigned and the retained portions of the lease shall be treated and considered as separate leases for the purpose of determining whether the lessee or lessees have a right of renewal for suc…

Assignments must be accompanied by the filing fee as set forth in the schedule of fees and filed with the commissioner within one hundred (100) days after having been signed by the assignor as shown upon the face of the instrument and not from the date of acknowledgment. Those pr…

To effect transfer of an interest in a lease owned by a deceased resident of New Mexico, proper probate proceedings must be had in accordance with the New Mexico Probate Code, and certified copies of such proceedings showing proper legal authority to transfer must be filed with t…

In the event a decedent owner of a lease was a resident of a state other than New Mexico, the estate must be probated in the state of such residence and ancillary proceedings conducted in the proper New Mexico court, and certified copies of such proceedings showing proper legal a…

A. Before any lessee shall commence development or operations, including any and all prospecting activities upon the lands, such lessee shall execute and file with the commissioner a sufficient bond or other surety, in an amount to be fixed by the commissioner, but not less than …

Before a lease shall issue, the lessee shall file with the commissioner a bond or other surety in an amount to be set by the commissioner which the commissioner deems necessary to guarantee payment of royalties to become due the state of New Mexico. With the approval of the commi…

Forms for all bonds are prescribed and furnished by the commissioner.

Permanent.

Lessees shall file royalty reports as such times and upon forms as may be prescribed by the commissioner.

Collateral assignments of leases shall be filed in duplicate upon forms provided by the commissioner together with the filing fee as set forth in the schedule of fees.

The commissioner may, after public hearing, approve cooperative or unit development for operation of leases under the provisions of Section 14 of the Geothermal Resources Act (Section 19-13-14 NMSA 1978) upon the commissioner's determining that such will be in the interest of con…

January 20, 1984, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

The objective of 19.2.7 NMAC is to provide for the orderly and lawful administration and the appropriate development of geothermal resources on trust lands.

The following terms as used in this rule shall have the meaning here indicated, unless otherwise clearly stated in the text: A. Geothermal Resources - The natural heat of the earth or the energy, in whatever form, below the surface of the earth present in, resulting from, or crea…

State trust lands may be leased only upon application made to the commissioner in a manner prescribed in these rules and under the Geothermal Resources Act of 1967.

Application to lease will be considered only for such lands as may be shown to be open upon the tract books of the New Mexico state land office or for those for which existing leases have been officially canceled or have expired and such action noted on the mineral tract books of…

Commissioner of Public Lands, New Mexico State Land Office, 310 Old Santa Fe Trail, P.O. Box 1148, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: (505) 827-5713

A. The commissioner may withdraw from an agricultural lease during its term up to one-half the leased acreage not to exceed six hundred and forty (640) acres provided that: (1) the commissioner has received a bona fide offer to lease or purchase the lands proposed for withdrawal …

A. In the absence of a competitive bid, the annual rental for grazing land leased under an agricultural lease shall be determined by the following formula: Annual rental = $0.0474 (Base Value) x Carrying Capacity (CC) x Acreage x Economic Variable Index (EVI). (1) The EVI in any …

A. The sublease of an agricultural lease or any portion thereof may be made only with the prior written consent of the commissioner. (1) A sublease without the written consent of the commissioner prior to such use or occupancy commencing shall be in violation of Sections 19-6-3 a…

A. With the prior written consent of the commissioner, the release of all outstanding collateral assignments, and the payment to the commissioner of the relinquishment filing fee as set forth in the schedule of fees, any lessee may relinquish to the state a lease that is not in d…

A. With the written consent of the commissioner and the payment to the commissioner of the assignment filing fee as set forth in the schedule of fees, a lessee may assign the lease or the lease rights to any part of the land held thereunder for the remainder of the lease term, pr…