N.M. Admin. Code § 20.7.7.17

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

Section 20.7.7.17 - PARTITIONING THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS

A. Purpose. Under certain circumstances, the building of a component/portion of a wastewater treatment system may be justified in advance of completing all environmental review requirements for the remainder of the system(s). When there are overriding considerations of cost or impaired program effectiveness the responsible official may approve a loan for a discrete component of a complete wastewater treatment system(s). The process of partitioning the environmental review for the discrete component shall comply with the criteria and procedures described in subsection (B) of this section. In addition, all reasonable alternatives for the overall wastewater treatment works system(s), of which the component is a part, shall have been previously identified and each part of the environmental review for the remainder of the overall facilities plan shall comply with all requirements under Sections 14 and 15 of 20.7.7 NMAC.

B. Criteria for partitioning. The project component must:

(1) Immediately remedy a severe public health, water quality, or other environmental problem;

(2) Not foreclose any reasonable alternatives identified for the overall wastewater treatment works system(s);

(3) Not cause significant adverse direct or indirect environmental impacts including those which cannot be acceptably mitigated without completing the entire wastewater treatment system of which the component is a part; and

(4) Not be highly controversial.

C. Request for partitioning. The applicant's request for partitioning must contain the following:

(1) A description of the discrete component proposed for construction before completing the environmental review of the entire facilities plan;

(2) How the component meets the above criteria;

(3) The environmental information required by Sections 14 and 15 of 20.7.7 NMAC for the component; and

(4) Any preliminary information that may be important to NMED in an EA determination for the entire facilities plan.

D. Approval of requests for partitioning. The responsible official shall:

(1) Review the request for partitioning against all requirements of this procedure;

(2) If approvable, prepare and issue a FONSI;

(3) Include a loan condition prohibiting the building of additional or different components of the entire facilities plan for which the environmental review is not complete.

N.M. Admin. Code § 20.7.7.17

10-22-88; 20.7.7.17 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 7.7.303 & A, 7/16/2000, Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXI, Issue 05, March 10, 2020, eff. 3/10/2020