New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 20 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Chapter 11 - ALBUQUERQUE - BERNALILLO COUNTY AIR QUALITY CONTROL BOARD
Part 41 - CONSTRUCTION PERMITS
Section 20.11.41.7 - DEFINITIONS

Universal Citation: 20 NM Admin Code 20.11.41.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024

In addition to the definitions in 20.11.41 NMAC, the definitions in 20.11.1 NMAC apply unless there is a conflict between definitions, in which case the definition in 20.11.41 NMAC shall govern.

A. "Act" or "state act" means the New Mexico Air Quality Control Act, Chapter 74, Article 2 NMSA 1978.

B. "Administrative permit revision" or "administrative revision" means a revision to a construction permit for a source that is requested and approved pursuant to Subsection A of 20.11.41.28 NMAC.

C. "Air contaminant" or "contaminant" means a substance, including particulate matter, fly ash, dust, fumes, gas, mist, smoke, vapor, micro-organisms, radioactive material, any combination thereof or any decay or reaction product thereof.

D. "Air pollutant", "pollutant", "air pollution" or "pollution" means the emission, except emission that occurs in nature, into the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in quantities and of a duration that may with reasonable probability injure human health or animal or plant life or as may unreasonably interfere with the public welfare, visibility or the reasonable use of property.

E. "Air pollution control equipment" means any device, equipment, process or combination thereof the operation of which would limit, capture, reduce, confine, or otherwise control air contaminants or convert for the purposes of control any air contaminant to another form, another chemical or another physical state.

F. "Ambient air" means the outdoor atmosphere, but does not include the area entirely within the geographical boundaries of the source from which the air contaminants are, or may be, emitted and where public access is restricted within the boundaries.

G. "Applicable requirement" means any of the following, and includes requirements that have been promulgated or approved by the board or EPA through rulemaking:

(1) any standard or other requirement provided in the New Mexico state implementation plan approved by EPA, or promulgated by EPA through rulemaking, under Title I of the federal act, including Parts C or D;

(2) any term or condition of a construction permit issued pursuant to regulations approved or promulgated through rulemaking under Title I of the federal act, including Parts C or D;

(3) any standard or other requirement:
(a) under Section 111 or 112 of the federal act;

(b) of the acid rain program under Title IV of the federal act or the regulations promulgated thereunder;

(c) governing solid waste incineration under Section 129 of the federal act;

(d) that applies to consumer and commercial products under Section 183(e) of the federal act; or

(e) of the regulations promulgated to protect stratospheric ozone under Title VI of the federal act, unless the EPA administrator has determined that the requirements need not be contained in a Title V permit;

(4) any requirements established pursuant to Section 504(b) or Section 114(a)(3) of the federal act;

(5) any national or New Mexico ambient air quality standard;

(6) any increment or visibility requirement under Part C of Title I of the federal act applicable to temporary sources permitted pursuant to Section 504(e) of the federal act; and

(7) any regulation adopted by the board in accordance with the city of Albuquerque and county of Bernalillo joint air quality control board ordinances pursuant to the Air Quality Control Act, and the laws and regulations in effect pursuant to the Air Quality Control Act.

H. "Board" means the Albuquerque-Bernalillo county air quality control board or its successor board pursuant to the state act.

I. "Commence", "commencement", "commencing" or "commences" means an owner or operator has undertaken a continuous program of construction or modification, has entered into a binding contractual obligation to undertake and complete a continuous program of construction within a reasonable time, or has acquired the right to operate a source that is subject to 20.11.41 NMAC and plans to commence operating the source.

J. "Conflict of interest" for the purposes of accelerated review, means any direct or indirect relationship between the qualified outside firm and the applicant or other interested person that would cause a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts to question the integrity or impartiality of the qualified outside firm in review of the application. A conflict of interest does not include any gifts, gratuities, financial or contractual relationship that totals less than $100 in value for the 12 month period preceding the department's receipt of the application. A conflict of interest includes:

(1) gifts or gratuities of value that have been exchanged between the qualified outside firm and the applicant;

(2) the qualified outside firm having provided goods or services to the applicant within one year before the start, or during the term, of the accelerated review process;

(3) an express or implied contractual relationship that exists between the qualified outside firm and the applicant, and the qualified outside firm has provided goods or services to the applicant as a result of the relationship within five years before the start of the accelerated review process; or

(4) a current financial relationship between the qualified outside firm and the applicant; current financial relationships include, but are not limited to:
(a) the qualified outside firm owes anything of value to, or is owed anything of value by the applicant; and

(b) the qualified outside firm has provided goods or services to the applicant and has issued a warranty or guarantee for the work that is still in effect during the time the contracted work for accelerated review is being performed;

(5) a director, officer or employee of the qualified outside firm that will perform services under a contract pursuant to 20.11.41.32 NMAC, and has one or more personal, business or financial interests or relationships with the applicant or any director, officer or employee of the applicant that would cause a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts to question the integrity or impartiality of those who are or will be acting under a contract;

(6) a director, officer or employee of the qualified outside firm was a director, officer or employee of the applicant within one year before the start of the accelerated review process;

(7) a communication that has occurred between the qualified outside firm and the applicant regarding the substance of the application before a qualified outside firm has been selected to perform accelerated review of an application except as allowed by the department; direct communication between the qualified outside firm and the applicant may take place after the qualified outside firm has been selected by the department;

(8) an affiliate of the applicant has any of the above described relationships with the qualified outside firm;

(9) an affiliate of the qualified outside firm has any of the above described relationships with the applicant; and

(10) an affiliate of the applicant has any of the above described relationships with any affiliate of the qualified outside firm.

K. "Construction" means fabrication, erection, installation or relocation of a stationary source, including but not limited to temporary installations and portable stationary sources.

L. "Days" means consecutive days except as otherwise specifically provided.

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

N. "Emergency" means unforeseen circumstances resulting in an imminent and substantial endangerment to health, safety, or welfare and that require immediate action.

O. "Emission limitation" means a requirement established by EPA, the state implementation plan (SIP), the state act, local ordinance, permit or board regulation that limits the quantity, rate or concentration, or combination thereof, of emissions of regulated air contaminants on a continuous basis, including any requirement relating to the operation or maintenance of a source to assure continuous reduction.

P. "Emission unit" or "unit" means any article, machine, equipment, contrivance, process or process line that emits or reduces, or may emit or reduce, the emissions of any air contaminant, except from motor vehicles.

Q. "EPA" means the United States environmental protection agency.

R. "Federal clean air act", "CAA" or "federal act" means the federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 7401 through 7671 et seq., as amended.

S. "Federally enforceable" means all limitations and conditions that are enforceable by the administrator of the EPA, including all requirements adopted pursuant to 40 CFR Parts 60, 61 and 63; all requirements included in any applicable state implementation plan; and any permit requirements imposed pursuant to 40 CFR 52.21 or regulations approved pursuant to 40 CFR Part 51, Subpart I including 40 CFR 51.165 and 40 CFR 51.166.

T. "Malfunction" means any sudden, infrequent and not reasonably preventable failure of air pollution control equipment or process equipment, or the failure of a process to operate in a normal or expected manner. Failures that are caused in part by poor maintenance or careless operation are not malfunctions.

U. "Modification" or "to modify" means a physical change in, or change in the method of operation of a source that results in an increase in the potential emission rate of any regulated air contaminant emitted by the source or that results in the emission of any regulated air contaminant not previously emitted; a relocation of a stationary source, unless previously established as a portable stationary source subject to specific permit conditions; or a revision that involves substantive changes that exceed the scope of a revision as defined by 20.11.41.28 NMAC, but does not include:

(1) a change in ownership of the source;

(2) routine maintenance, repair or replacement;

(3) installation of air pollution control equipment, and all related process equipment and materials necessary for its operation, undertaken for the purpose of complying with regulations adopted by the state or local board or pursuant to the CAA; or

(4) unless previously limited by enforceable permit conditions:
(a) an increase in the production rate, if the increase does not exceed the operating design capacity of the source;

(b) an increase in the hours of operation; or

(c) use of an alternative fuel or raw material if, prior to January 6, 1975, the source was capable of accommodating the fuel or raw material or if use of an alternate fuel or raw material is caused by any natural gas curtailment or emergency allocation or any other lack of supply of natural gas.

V. "National ambient air quality standards" or "NAAQS" means the primary (health based) and secondary (welfare-related) federal ambient air quality standards promulgated by the EPA pursuant to Section 109 of the CAA.

W. "National emission standards for hazardous air pollutants" or "NESHAP" means the regulatory requirements, guidelines and emission limitations promulgated by the EPA pursuant to Section 112 of the CAA.

X. "New Mexico ambient air quality standards" or "NMAAQS" means the ambient air quality standards promulgated by the New Mexico environmental improvement board.

Y. "New source performance standard" or "NSPS" means the regulatory requirements, guidelines and emission limitations promulgated by the EPA pursuant to Section 111 of the CAA.

Z. "Nonattainment area" means for any air contaminant an area that is shown by monitoring data or that is calculated by air quality modeling (or by other methods determined by the director of the department or the administrator of the EPA to be reliable), to exceed either a state NMAAQS or NAAQS for the contaminant, including but not limited to areas identified under Section 107 (d)(1)(A) through (C) of the CAA.

AA. "North American industry classification system" or "NAICS" means the industry classification system that is used by the statistical agencies of the United States, is issued by the federal office of management and budget and replaced the standard industrial classification (SIC) system.

BB. "Operator" means the local organization or subdivision of the firm or person, whether private, corporate or public, that manages, on location, the operations of the stationary source.

CC. "Owner" means the person or persons who own a source.

DD. "Part" means an air quality control regulation organized under Title 20, Chapter 11 of the New Mexico Administrative Code that has been adopted or amended by the board, unless otherwise noted.

EE. "Permit" means a construction permit for a source or a construction permit modification, relocation, or administrative or technical permit revision that has been issued or approved by the department pursuant to 20.11.41 NMAC. A permit includes constraints, emissions limitations and other conditions and authorizes a person to commence construction, modification, relocation, or technical revision to the permitted source or operation; or commence operation of a facility that contains a source that is subject to 20.11.41 NMAC.

FF. "Permittee" means the person who has applied for and has obtained a construction permit for a source that has been issued a permit pursuant to 20.11.41 NMAC.

GG. "Portable stationary source" means a source that can be relocated to another operating site with limited dismantling and reassembly, including, as an example, movable sand and gravel processing operations, concrete plants, asphalt plants and soil vapor extraction systems.

HH. "Potential emission rate" means the emission rate of a source at its maximum capacity to emit a regulated air contaminant under its physical and operational design, provided any physical or operational limitation on the capacity of the source to emit a regulated air contaminant, (including air pollution control equipment and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or amount of material combusted, stored or processed), shall be treated as part of its physical and operational design, but only if the limitation or the effect the limitation would have on emissions is enforceable by the department pursuant to the state act or the federal act.

II. "Process equipment" or "process equipment unit" means any equipment, apparatus or device, including chemical, industrial or manufacturing facilities such as ovens, mixing kettles, heating and reheating furnaces, kilns, stills, dryers, roasters and equipment used in connection therewith, and all other methods or forms of manufacturing or processing that may emit any air contaminant.

JJ. "Public information hearing" or "PIH" means the hearing provided by the department pursuant to 20.11.41.15 NMAC during which attendees can ask questions, provide comments and provide information; a PIH is not a hearing on the merits that results in a final decision at the close of the hearing.

KK. "Regulated air contaminant" means any air contaminant, the emission or ambient concentration of which is regulated pursuant to the New Mexico air quality control act or the federal act.

LL. "Relocation" means to physically move a portable stationary source.

MM. "Shutdown" means the cessation of operation of any air pollution control equipment, process equipment or process for any purpose, except routine phasing out of batch process units.

NN. "Significant impact" means to pollute to an extent that ambient air contaminant concentrations, including background, exceed any of the significance levels listed in Table 1 of 20.11.41.33 NMAC, as indicated by modeling techniques authorized by the department.

OO. "Standard industrial classification" or "SIC" means the code from the system used to classify all industries in the United States economy that was administered by the federal statistical policy division of the office of management and budget and in 1997 was replaced by the North American industry classification system (NAICS).

PP. "Startup" means to put a stationary source that has been constructed or modified as authorized by a permit issued pursuant to 20.11.41 NMAC into operation complete with functional air pollution controls, so the process equipment or the process performs for the purpose intended. The operation may be cyclic in response to on-off controls. Repetition of cycles is not startup for purposes of 20.11.41 NMAC.

QQ. "Stationary source" or "source" means any building, structure, equipment, facility, portable stationary source or installation that is either permanent or temporary, excluding a private residence, that emits or may emit any regulated air contaminant or any pollutant listed under Section 112(b) of the federal act, the state act, or the laws and regulations in effect pursuant to the state act. Several buildings, structures, facilities, or installations, or any combination will be treated as a single stationary source if they belong to the same industrial grouping, are located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties, and are under the control of the same person or persons, or are under common control. Air pollution activities shall be treated as the same industrial grouping if they have the same first two digits of an applicable North American industry classification system (NAICS) code.

RR. "Technical permit revision" or "technical revision" means a revision to a construction permit pursuant to Subsection B of 20.11.41.28 NMAC.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Mexico may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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