N.M. Admin. Code § 20.2.99.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 21, November 5, 2024

Section 20.2.99.7 - DEFINITIONS

Terms used but not defined in this part shall have the meaning given them by the CAA Titles 23 and 49 U.S.C., US EPA regulations, US DOT regulations, and 20.2.2 NMAC (Definitions), in that order of priority.

A. "Applicable implementation plan" is defined in Section 302(q) of the CAA and means the portion (or portions) of the implementation plan, or most recent revision thereof, which has been approved under Section 110 (of the CAA), promulgated under Section 110(c), or promulgated or approved pursuant to regulations promulgated under Section 301(d) and which implements the relevant requirements of the CAA.

B. "CAA" means the Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq.

C. "Cause or contribute to a new violation" for a project means:

(1) to cause or contribute to a new violation of a standard in the area substantially affected by the project or over a region which would otherwise not be in violation of the standard during the future period in question, if the project were not implemented; or

(2) to contribute to a new violation in a manner that would increase the frequency or severity of a new violation of a standard in such area.

D. "CFR" means the code of federal regulations.

E. "Conformity determination" means the demonstration of consistency with motor vehicle emissions budgets for each pollutant and precursor identified in the applicable SIP. The conformity determination is the affirmative written documentation declaring conformity with the applicable SIP which is submitted to FHWA and FTA for approval with US EPA consultation. An affirmative conformity determination means conformity to the plan's purpose of eliminating or reducing the severity and number of violations of the national ambient air quality standards and achieving expeditious attainment of such standards; and that such activities will not:

(1) cause or contribute to a new violation of any standard in any area;

(2) increase the frequency or severity of any existing violation of any standard in any area; or

(3) delay timely attainment of any standard or any required interim emission reductions or other milestones in any area.

F. "Consultation" means that one party confers with another identified party, provides or makes available all relevant information to that party, and, prior to taking any action, considers the views of that party and (except with respect to those actions for which only notification is required) responds to written comments in a timely, substantive written manner prior to any final decision on such action. Such views and written response shall be made part of the record of any decision or action. Specific procedures and processes are described in 20.2.99.102 through 20.2.99.110 NMAC.

G. "Control strategy implementation plan revision" is the implementation plan which contains specific strategies for controlling the emissions of and reducing ambient levels of pollutants in order to satisfy CAA requirements for demonstrations of reasonable further progress and attainment (including implementation plan revisions submitted to satisfy CAA Sections 172(c), 182(b)(1), 182(c)(2)(A), 182(c)(2)(B), 187(a)(7), 189(a)(1)(B), 189(b)(1)(A) and 189(d); and Sections 192(a) and 192(b), for nitrogen dioxide; and any other applicable CAA provisions requiring a demonstration of reasonable further progress or attainment).

H. "Criteria pollutants" are the six principal pollutants for which national ambient air quality standards exist.

I. "Department" means the New Mexico environment department.

J. "Design concept" means the type of facility identified by the project, e.g., freeway, expressway, arterial highway, grade separated highway, reserved right-of-way rail transit, mixed traffic rail transit, exclusive busway, etc.

K. "Design scope" means the design aspects of a facility which will affect the proposed facility's impact on regional emissions, usually as they relate to vehicle or person-carrying capacity and control, e.g., number of lanes or tracks to be constructed or added, length of project, signalization, access control including approximate number and location of interchanges, preferential treatment for high-occupancy vehicles, etc.

L. "Donut areas" are geographic areas outside a metropolitan planning area boundary, but inside the boundary of a nonattainment area or maintenance area that contains any part of a metropolitan area(s). These areas are not isolated rural nonattainment area and maintenance areas.

M. "FHWA" means the federal highway administration of US DOT.

N. "FHWA/FTA project" means, for the purpose of this part, any highway or transit project which is proposed to receive funding assistance and approval through the federal-aid highway program or the federal mass transit program, or requires federal highway administration (FHWA) or federal transit administration (FTA) approval for some aspect of the project, such as connection to an interstate highway or deviation from applicable design standards on the interstate system.

O. "FTA" means the federal transit administration of US DOT.

P. "Highway project" is an undertaking to implement or modify a highway facility or highway-related program. Such an undertaking consists of all required phases necessary for implementation. For analytical purposes, it shall be defined sufficiently to:

(1) connect logical termini and be of sufficient length to address environmental matters on a broad scope;

(2) have independent utility or significance, i.e., be usable and be a reasonable expenditure even if no additional transportation improvements in the area are made; and

(3) not restrict consideration of alternatives for other reasonably foreseeable transportation improvements.

Q. "Hot-spot analysis" is an estimation of likely future localized CO, PM₁₀ or PM_2.5 pollutant concentrations and a comparison of those concentrations to the national ambient air quality standards. Hot-spot analysis assesses impacts on a scale smaller than the entire nonattainment area or maintenance area, including, for example, congested roadway intersections and highways or transit terminals, and uses an air quality dispersion model to determine the effects of emissions on air quality.

R. "Increase the frequency or severity" means to cause a location or region to exceed a standard more often or to cause a violation at a greater concentration than previously existed or would otherwise exist during the future period in question, if the project were not implemented.

S. "Isolated rural nonattainment and maintenance areas" are areas that do not contain or are not part of any metropolitan planning area as designated under the transportation planning regulations. Isolated rural areas that do not have federally required metropolitan transportation plans or transportation improvement programs (TIPs) and do not have projects that are part of the emissions in such areas are instead included in statewide TIPs. These are not donut areas.

T. "Limited maintenance plan" means a maintenance plan that US EPA has determined meets US EPA's limited maintenance plan policy criteria for a given national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) and pollutant. To qualify for a limited maintenance plan, for example, an area must have a design value that is significantly below a given NAAQS, and it must be reasonable to expect that a NAAQS violation will not result from any level of future motor vehicle emissions growth.

U. "Maintenance area" means any geographic region of the United States previously designated nonattainment pursuant to the CAA amendments of 1990 and subsequently redesignated to attainment subject to the requirement to develop a maintenance plan under Section 175A of the CAA, as amended.

V. "Maintenance plan" means an implementation plan under Section 175A of the CAA, as amended.

W. "Memorandum of agreement" or "MOA" means a document agreed upon by cooperating parties.

X. "Metropolitan planning organization" or "MPO" means the policy board of an organization created as a result of the designation process in 23 U.S.C.134(d).

Y. "Milestone" has the meaning given in CAA Sections 182(g)(1) and 189(c) for serious and above ozone nonattainment areas and PM₁₀ nonattainment areas, respectively. For all other nonattainment areas, a milestone consists of an emissions level and the date on which that level is to be achieved as required by the applicable CAA provision for reasonable further progress towards attainment.

Z. "Motor vehicle emissions budget" is that portion of the total allowable emissions, defined in the submitted or approved control strategy implementation plan revision or maintenance plan for a certain date for the purpose of meeting reasonable further progress milestones or demonstrating attainment or maintenance of the national ambient air quality standards, for any criteria pollutant or its precursors, allocated by the state implementation plan to highway and transit vehicle use and emissions.

AA. "National ambient air quality standards" or "NAAQS" are those standards established pursuant to Section 109 of the CAA.

AB. "NEPA" means the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.

AC. "NEPA process completion" means, for the purposes of this part, with respect to FHWA or FTA, the point at which there is a specific action to make a determination that a project is categorically excluded, to make a finding of no significant impact, or to issue a record of decision on a final environmental impact statement under NEPA.

AD. "NMDOT" means the New Mexico department of transportation or its successor agency or authority, as represented by the department secretary or his or her designee.

AE. "Nonattainment area" means any geographic region of the United States which has been designated as nonattainment under Section 107 of the CAA for any pollutant for which a national ambient air quality standard exists.

AF. "Project" means a highway project or transit project.

AG. "Recipient of funds designated under Title 23 U.S.C. or the federal transit laws" means any agency at any level of state, county, city, or regional government that routinely receives Title 23 U.S.C. or federal transit law funds to construct FHWA/FTA projects, operate FHWA/FTA projects or equipment, purchase equipment, or undertake other services or operations via contracts or agreements. This definition does not include private landowners or developers, or contractors or entities that are only paid for services or products created by their own employees.

AH. "Re-entrained road dust" means emissions which are produced by travel on paved and unpaved roads, including emissions from anti-skid and de-icing material(s).

AI. "Regionally significant project" means a transportation project (other than an exempt project) that is on a facility which serves regional transportation needs (such as access to and from the area outside of the region, major activity centers in the region, major planned developments such as new retail malls, sports complexes, etc., or transportation terminals, as well as most terminals themselves) and would normally be included in the modeling of a metropolitan area's transportation network, including at a minimum:

(1) all principal arterial highways; and

(2) all fixed guideway transit facilities that offer an alternative to regional highway travel.

AJ. "Standard" means a national ambient air quality standard.

AK. "State implementation plan" or "SIP" means an applicable implementation plan and the applicable portion (or portions) of the New Mexico state implementation plan, or most recent revision thereof, which has been approved under Section 110, or promulgated under Section 110(c), or promulgated or approved pursuant to regulations promulgated under Section 301(d) of the CAA and which implements the relevant requirements of the CAA (see the definition for "applicable implementation plan").

AL. "Title 23 U.S.C." means Title 23 of the United States Code.

AM. "Transit" means mass transportation by bus, rail, or other conveyance which provides general or special service to the public on a regular and continuing basis. It does not include school buses or charter or sightseeing services.

AN. "Transit project" means an undertaking to: implement or modify a transit facility or transit-related program; purchase transit vehicles or equipment; or provide financial assistance for transit operations. It does not include actions that are solely within the jurisdiction of local transit agencies, such as changes in routes, schedules or fares. It may consist of several phases. For analytical purposes, it shall be defined inclusively enough to:

(1) connect logical termini and be of sufficient length to address environmental matters on a broad scope;

(2) have independent utility or independent significance, i.e., be a reasonable expenditure even if no additional transportation improvements in the area are made; and

(3) not restrict consideration of alternatives for other reasonably foreseeable transportation improvements.

AO. "Transportation control measure" or "TCM" means any measure that is specifically identified and committed to in the applicable implementation plan, including a substitute or additional TCM that is incorporated into the applicable SIP through the process established in CAA Section 176(c)(8), that is either one of the types listed in Section 108 of the CAA, or any other measure for the purpose of reducing emissions or concentrations of air pollutants from transportation sources by reducing vehicle use or changing traffic flow or congestion conditions. Notwithstanding the above, vehicle technology-based, fuel-based and maintenance-based measures which control the emissions from vehicles under fixed traffic conditions are not TCMs for the purposes of this part.

AP. "Transportation improvement program" or "TIP" means a transportation improvement program developed by a metropolitan planning organization under Title 23 U.S.C. 134(j).

AQ. "Transportation plan" means the official intermodal metropolitan transportation plan that is developed through the metropolitan planning process for the metropolitan planning area, developed pursuant to 23 CFR part 450.

AR. "Transportation project" is a highway project or a transit project.

AS. "US EPA" means the United States environmental protection agency.

AT. "US DOT" means the United States department of transportation.

AU. "Written commitment" means, for the purposes of this part, a written commitment that includes a description of the action to be taken; a schedule for the completion of the action; a demonstration that funding necessary to implement the action has been authorized by the appropriating or authorizing body; and an acknowledgment that the commitment is an enforceable obligation under the applicable implementation plan.

N.M. Admin. Code § 20.2.99.7

12/14/94; 11/23/98; 20.2.99.7 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 2.99.107, 10/31/02; A, 10/15/05; A, 9/1/07; A, 06/01/09; A, 11/07/11

Adopted, New Mexico Register, Volume XXV, Issue 16, August 29, 2014, eff. 9/15/2014