N.M. Code R. § 20.11.21.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 12, June 25, 2024

Section 20.11.21.7 - DEFINITIONS

In addition to the definitions in Section 20.11.21.7 NMAC, the definitions in 20.11.1 NMAC apply unless there is a conflict between definitions, in which case the definition in 20.11.21 NMAC shall govern.

A. "Agricultural burning" means the burning of crop residues for field preparation or that is otherwise used for the production of a crop.

B. "Alternative to burning" means a treatment employing manual, mechanical, chemical, or biological methods to manage vegetation or fuel loads, or land management practices that treat vegetation (fuel) without using fire. A treatment or practice may only be considered an alternative if it has successfully been used to take the place of fire for at least three consecutive years. Suggested alternatives to burning are listed in Section 20.11.21.18 NMAC.

C. "Biomass utilization" means any method of removing and taking biomass material to a landfill, burn facility, a power generation facility, an ethanol production facility, a redistribution facility, a fiberboard or particleboard facility, using the material as compost or mulch, using it as animal bedding, for erosion control, etc.

D. "Broadcast burn" means the controlled application of fire to wildland fuels in their natural or modified state over a predetermined area. Broadcast burns do not include the burning of wildland fuels that have been concentrated in piles by manual or mechanical methods.

E. "Burn down" means that period of time, not to exceed three (3) hours, after a no-burn period is announced by the director, within which period a person operating a solid fuel heating device must cease combustion within any solid fuel heating device by withholding fuel or modifying the air-to-fuel ratio.

F. "Burner" means the person who is responsible for or in control of a prescribed fire project that is regulated under 20.11.21 NMAC.

G. "Burn project" means, in prescribed fires or in wildland fire use, a burn regulated by 20.11.21.15 NMAC on an area that is contiguous and is being treated or managed for the same land management objectives.

H. "Class I area" means all international parks, national wilderness areas which exceed 5,000 acres, national memorial parks which exceed 5,000 acres, and national park areas which exceed 6,000 acres in size and which were in existence on the date of enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977. The extent of the areas designated as class I shall conform to any changes in the boundaries of such areas, which occurred subsequent to the date of the enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 or 1990.

I. "Department" means the Albuquerque environmental health department, which is the administrative agency of the Albuquerque - Bernalillo county air quality control board.

J. "Director" means the administrative head of the Albuquerque environmental health department or a designated representative(s).

K. "Division" means the city of Albuquerque air quality division or its successor agency.

L. "Emission reduction technique" or "ERT" means a control strategy used to reduce smoke from a prescribed fire that results in less smoke than would have been produced if the emission reduction technique were absent. A control strategy used for a period of fewer than three years is an emission reduction technique; if the control strategy replaces fire for three consecutive years or more, the control strategy is an alternative to burning.

M. "Environmentally non-essential burning" means the open burning of any unwanted combustible material which could otherwise reasonably be altered, destroyed, reduced or removed to a suitable disposal site without the potential to cause environmental harm or damage.

N. "Environmentally poor burning substances" include but are not limited to: refuse, paper, rubbish, books, magazines, fiberboard, packaging, rags, fabrics, animal waste, waste oil, liquid or gelatinous hydrocarbons, tar, paints and solvents, chemically treated wood, plastic or rubber, office records, sensitive or classified wastes, hazardous or toxic substances, interiors of wrecked vehicle bodies or other materials which are difficult to burn without producing significant amounts of noxious or toxic fumes or dense smoke.

O. "Health alert" means an air pollution alert, warning or emergency issued by the department.

P. "Hot torch" means a wand or burner fueled by propane, butane or compressed natural gas.

Q. "Hot torch burning" means burning of individual weeds at the point of the hot torch.

R. "No-burn period" means a period of time, declared by the director, during which no person with authority or power to control the operation of a solid fuel heating device shall allow the operation of a solid fuel heating device to continue, following a burn down period, within the wood smoke impacted area, unless the device is a wood heater that has been emission certified by the EPA. Exemptions may be granted by the director per 20.11.22.2 NMAC. No-burn periods may be declared any time from October 1 through February 28. The director shall declare a no-burn period after reviewing available meteorological data, air pollution monitoring data and other relevant information and determining that expected atmospheric conditions will not adequately disperse wood smoke.

S. "Open burning" means the combustion of any substance which is not confined in a device having controllable fuel/air mixture capable of achieving nearly complete combustion, and from which combustion products are discharged into the open air without passing through a stack, duct, chimney, or vent.

T. "PB-I" or "level I prescribed burn" means a smoke management burn project that emits less than one ton of PM₁₀ emissions per day or burns less than 5,000 cubic feet pile volume of vegetative material per day.

U. "PB-II" or "level II prescribed burn" means a smoke management burn project that emits one ton or more of PM₁₀ emissions per day or burns 5,000 cubic feet or more pile volume of vegetative material per day.

V. "Pile" means vegetative materials that have been relocated and heaped together either by hand or machinery.

W. "Pile volume" means the gross volume of a pile, including the air space between solid constituents, as calculated from the overall dimensions and shape of the pile.

X. "PM₁₀ emissions" or "PM₁₀" means finely divided solid or liquid material, with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers emitted to the ambient air, as measured by the reference method in 40 CFR Part 50, Appendix J, or equivalent method approved by the EPA.

Y. "Population" means the total number of individuals occupying an area. Locations for individuals within an area include, but are not limited to, open campgrounds, single-family dwellings, hospitals, schools in use, villages, and open places of employment.

Z. "Prescribed fire" or "prescribed burn" or "PB" means any fire ignited by any person to meet specific non-agricultural land management objectives. For the purposes of 20.11.21 NMAC, wildland fire use is considered a prescribed fire.

AA. "Public notification" means any method that communicates burn information to the burners, air regulators, Bernalillo county fire department, the local fire authority, and to the general public.

BB. "Research and development activities" means scientific experimentation using open burning to prove a concept or produce information useful in planning.

CC. "Vegetative material" means untreated wood and untreated wood products, including tree stumps (whole or chipped), trees, tree limbs (whole or chipped), bark, sawdust, chips, scraps, slabs, millings, shavings, grass, grass clippings, weeds, leaves, conifer needles, bushes, shrubs, clippings from bushes and shrubs, and agricultural plant residue.

DD. "Ventilation index" means a technical rating used to establish the potential for smoke or other pollutants to ventilate away from its source.

EE. "Ventilation index category" means a category in the ventilation index that is determined as provided in Section 20.11.21.17 NMAC and is rated as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor.

FF. "Wildfire" means an unplanned or unwanted fire that burns vegetative material in a natural or modified state.

GG. "Wildland" means an area in which there is minimal development, except for roads, railroads, power lines and similar utilities and transportation facilities. Structures, if any, are widely scattered.

HH. "Wildland fire use" means the management of wildfire within a wildland that is ignited by natural forces, such as by lightning or volcanic eruption, following a decision to allow the wildfire to burn to accomplish specific pre-stated resource objectives in predefined geographic areas, also known as fire use, wildfire use, prescribed natural fire, and fire for resource benefit.

II. "Winter pollution advisory season" or "no-burn season" means the period from October 1st through February 28th each year when no-burn calls are made. The no-burn call is a control strategy designed to protect the air quality in Bernalillo county. This strategy helps mitigate particulate matter and carbon monoxide build up during the colder months of the year when temperature inversions trap pollutants closer to ground level.

JJ. "Wood smoke impacted area" means that portion of Bernalillo county that is the most adversely affected by the burning of wood during atmospheric conditions that the director concludes may not adequately disperse wood smoke. The wood smoke impacted area is bounded on the north and south by the Bernalillo county line, on the west by the universal transverse meridian (UTM) line 337000mE and on the east by the UTM line 367000mE, Zone 13.

N.M. Code R. § 20.11.21.7

1/3/85. . .6/16/92, 12/1/95; 20.11.21.7 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 11.21.I.7, 10/1/02; A, 12/31/03; A, 7/11/11