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SB1087 - 572R - I Ver
PREFILED��� JAN 05 2026
REFERENCE TITLE:
helium exploration; aquifer protection permit
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SB 1087
Introduced by
Senator
Finchem
AN
ACT
amending section 49-250, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to the aquifer protection program.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 49-250, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
49-250.
Exemptions
A. The director, by rule, may exempt specifically
described classes or categories of facilities from the aquifer protection
permit requirements of this article on a finding either that there is no
reasonable probability of degradation of the aquifer or that aquifer water
quality will be maintained and protected because the discharges from the
facilities are regulated under other federal or state programs that provide the
same or greater aquifer water quality protection as provided by this article.
B. The following are exempt from the aquifer
protection permit requirement of this article:
1. Household and domestic activities.
2. Household gardening, lawn watering, lawn care,
landscape maintenance and related activities.
3. The noncommercial use of consumer products
generally available to and used by the public.
4. Ponds used for watering livestock and wildlife.
5. Mining overburden returned to the excavation
site, including any common material that has been excavated and removed from
the excavation site and that has not been subjected to any chemical or leaching
agent or process of any kind.
6. Facilities used solely for surface transportation
or storage of groundwater, surface water for beneficial use or reclaimed water
that is regulated pursuant to section 49-203, subsection A, paragraph 7
for beneficial use.
7. Discharge to a community sewer system.
8. Facilities that are required to obtain a permit
for the direct reuse of reclaimed water.
9. Leachate resulting from the direct, natural
infiltration of precipitation through undisturbed regolith or bedrock if pollutants
are not added to the leachate as a result of any material or activity placed or
conducted by man on the ground surface.
10. Surface impoundments used solely to contain
storm runoff, except for surface impoundments regulated by the federal clean
water act or article 3.1 of this chapter.
11. Closed facilities. However, if the
facility ever resumes operation the facility shall obtain an aquifer protection
permit and the facility shall be treated as a new facility for purposes of
section 49-243.
12. Facilities for the storage of water pursuant to
title 45, chapter 3.1 unless reclaimed water is added.
13. Facilities using central Arizona project water
for underground storage and recovery projects under title 45, chapter 3.1,
article 6.
14. Water storage at a groundwater saving facility
that has been permitted under title 45, chapter 3.1.
15. Application of water from any source, including
groundwater, surface water or wastewater, to grow agricultural crops or for
landscaping purposes, except as provided in section 49-247.
16. Discharges to a facility that is exempt pursuant
to paragraph 6 of this subsection if those discharges are regulated pursuant to
33 United States Code section 1342 or article 3.1 of this chapter.
17. Solid waste and special waste facilities if
rules addressing aquifer protection are adopted by the director pursuant to
section 49-761 or 49-855 and those facilities obtain plan approval
pursuant to those rules.� This exemption shall apply only if the director
determines that aquifer water quality standards will be maintained and
protected because the discharges from those facilities are regulated under
rules adopted pursuant to section 49-761 or 49-855 that provide
aquifer water quality protection that is equal to or greater than aquifer water
quality protection provided pursuant to this article.
18. Facilities used in:
(a) Corrective actions taken pursuant to chapter 6,
article 1 of this title in response to a release of a regulated substance as
defined in section 49-1001 except for those off-site facilities
that receive for treatment or disposal materials that are contaminated with a
regulated substance and that are received as part of a corrective action.
(b) Response or remedial actions undertaken pursuant
to article 5 of this chapter or pursuant to CERCLA.
(c) Corrective actions taken pursuant to the
resource conservation and recovery act of 1976, as amended (42 United States
Code sections 6901 through 6992).
(d) Other remedial actions that have been reviewed
and approved by the appropriate governmental authority and taken pursuant to
applicable federal or state laws.
19. Municipal solid waste landfills as defined in
section 49-701 that have solid waste facility plan approval pursuant to
section 49-762.
20. Storage, treatment or disposal of inert
material.
21. Structures that are designed and constructed not
to discharge and that are built on an impermeable barrier that can be visually
inspected for leakage.
22. Pipelines and tanks designed, constructed,
operated and regularly maintained so as not to discharge.
23. Surface impoundments and dry wells that are used
to contain storm water in combination with discharges from one or more of the
following activities or sources:
(a) Firefighting system testing and maintenance.
(b) Potable water sources, including waterline
flushings.
(c) Irrigation drainage and lawn watering.
(d) Routine external building wash down without
detergents.
(e) Pavement wash water if no spills or leaks of
toxic or hazardous material have occurred unless all spilled material has first
been removed and no detergents have been used.
(f) Air conditioning, compressor and steam equipment
condensate that has not contacted a hazardous or toxic material.
(g) Foundation or footing drains in which flows are
not contaminated with process materials.
(h) Occupational safety and health administration or
mining safety and health administration safety equipment.
24. Industrial wastewater treatment facilities
designed, constructed and operated as required by section 49-243,
subsection B, paragraph 1 and using a treatment system approved by the director
to treat wastewater to meet aquifer water quality standards prior to discharge,
if that water is stored at a groundwater storage facility pursuant to title 45,
chapter 3.1.
25. Any point source discharge caused by a storm
event and authorized in a permit issued pursuant to section 402 of the clean
water act or an Arizona pollutant discharge elimination system permit under
article 3.1 of this chapter.
26. Except for class V wells that are operating as
prescribed by rules adopted pursuant to article 3.3 of this chapter or 42
United States Code section 300h-1(c), any underground injection well
covered by a permit issued under article 3.3 of this chapter or under 42 United
States Code section 300h-1(c).
27. Coal combustion residuals units that are
regulated under 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 257, subpart D or by a
permit in effect under the coal combustion residuals program established
pursuant to chapter 4, article 11 of this title and approved by the United
States environmental protection agency as prescribed by 42 United
State
states
Code section 6945(d)(1).
28. Helium exploration and production
wells that are designed, constructed, operated and maintained to not discharge
a contaminant into an aquifer.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 2.
Exemption from
rulemaking
Notwithstanding any other law, for the
purposes of this act, the department of environmental quality is exempt from
the rulemaking requirements of title 41, chapter 6, Arizona Revised Statutes,
for one year after the effective date of this act.
Sec. 3.
Legislative intent
The legislature intends to reaffirm
the public policy of this state consistent with section 27-502, Arizona
Revised Statutes, relating to the conservation and development of natural
resources, including helium.
Sec. 4.
Legislative
findings
The legislature finds that:
1. Helium is a base element
with atomic number 2, the second lightest and second most abundant element in
the observable universe after hydrogen.� It belongs to the noble gases (Group
18) in the periodic table of elements.
2. Helium appears as a
colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert monatomic gas at standard
conditions. Its atoms consist of a nucleus with two protons and
typically two neutrons (in the most common isotope, helium-4) surrounded by two
electrons in a fully filled 1s orbital. This stable electron
configuration (1s�) makes it extremely unreactive.� Helium's nature is defined
by its simplicity, inertness, and quantum behaviors at low temperatures, making
it indispensable in cryogenics, scientific research and national defense.