N.M. Code R. § 20.11.1.7 Definitions

• Library: New Mexico Administrative Code
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Register Vol. 34, No. 24, December 19, 2023
• Citation: N.M. Code R. § 20.11.1.7
• Year: 2023

The definitions of 20.11.1 NMAC apply unless there is a conflict between definitions in other parts, in which case the definition found in the applicable part shall govern. The definitions include the measurements, abbreviations, and acronyms in Subsection GGGG, of 20.11.1.7 NMAC.

A. "Abnormal operating conditions" means the startup or shutdown of air pollution control device(s) or process equipment.

B. "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency or his or her designee.

C. "Affected source" or "facility" means any stationary source, or any other source of air pollutants, that must comply with an applicable requirement.

D. "Air agency", "department" or "EHD" means the environmental health department (EHD) of the city of Albuquerque. The EHD, or its successor agency or authority, as represented by the department director or his/her designee, is the lead air quality planning agency for the Albuquerque - Bernalillo county nonattainment/maintenance area. The EHD serves as staff to the Albuquerque - Bernalillo county air quality control board, (A-BC AQCB), and is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the A-BC AQCB regulations.

E. "Air contaminant" or "air pollutant" means an air pollution agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, radioactive (including source material, special nuclear material, and byproduct material) substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air. Such term includes any precursors to the formation of any air pollutant; to the extent the EPA has identified such precursor or precursors for the purpose for which the term "air pollutant" is used. This excludes water vapor, nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and ethane.

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

G. "Air quality control act" means the State of New Mexico Air Quality Control Act, Chapter 74, Article 2, NMSA 1978 as amended.

H. "Air quality control board", "board" or "A-BC AQCB" means the Albuquerque - Bernalillo county air quality control board, which is empowered by federal act, the Air Quality Control Act, and ordinances, to prevent or abate air pollution within the boundaries of Bernalillo county, except for Indian lands over which the board lacks jurisdiction.

I. "Allowable emissions" means:

(1) Any department or federally enforceable permit term or condition which limits the quantity, rate or concentration of emissions of air pollutants on a continuous basis including any requirements which limits the level of opacity, prescribe equipment, set fuel specifications, or prescribe operation or maintenance procedures for a source to assure continuous reduction that are requested by the applicant and approved by the department or, determined at the time of issuance or renewal of a permit to be an applicable requirement.

(2) Any federally enforceable emissions cap that the permittee has assumed to avoid an applicable requirement to which the source would otherwise be subject.

J. "Ambient" means that portion of the atmosphere, external to buildings, to which the general public has access.

K. "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 for in the New Mexico state implementation plan approved by EPA, or promulgated by EPA through rulemaking, under Title I, including Parts C or D of the federal act;

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

(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) for consumer and commercial products under Section 183(e) of the federal act; (e) of the regulations promulgated to protect stratospheric ozone under Title VI of the federal act unless the administrator has determined that such 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 state 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;

(7) any regulation adopted by the board in accordance with the 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.

L. "Breakdown or upset" means any sudden, infrequent, and not reasonably preventable failure of air pollution control equipment, or process equipment, which causes a process to not operate in a normal manner. Failures that are caused by process imbalance, poor maintenance or careless operation are not breakdowns.

M. "Carbon monoxide" or "CO" means a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas composed of molecules containing a single atom of carbon and a single atom of oxygen with a molecular weight of 28.01 g/mole.

N. "Chemical process" means any manufacturing processing operation in which one or more changes in chemical composition or chemical properties are involved.

O. "Coal burning equipment" means any device used for the burning of coal for the primary purpose of producing heat or power by indirect heat transfer in which the products of combustion do not come into direct contact with other materials.

P. "Commenced" means that an owner or operator has undertaken a continuous program of construction or that an owner or operator has entered into a binding agreement or contractual obligation to undertake and complete, within a reasonable time, a continuous program of construction or modification.

Q. "Construction" means fabrication, erection, or installation of an affected facility.

R. "Crematory" means any combustion unit designed and used solely for cremating human or animal remains or parts and tissues thereof, and other items normally associated with the cremation process, but not including pathological waste.

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

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

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

V. "EPA" means the United States environmental protection agency or the EPA's duly authorized representative.

W. "Excess emissions" means the emission of an air contaminant, including a fugitive emission, in excess of the quantity, rate, opacity or concentration specified by an air quality regulation or permit condition.

X. "Excess emissions report" means a report submitted by a stationary source at the request of the department in order to provide data on the source's compliance with emission limits and operating parameters.

Y. "Federal act", "act" or "CAA" means the Federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 42Congressional findings and declaration of purpose7401 through 42Definitions7671 et seq., as amended.

Z. "Federal class I wilderness areas" means areas designated by the EPA as such. Federal class I wilderness areas within 100 kilometers of Bernalillo county are Bandelier wilderness, Pecos wilderness, and San Pedro Parks wilderness.

AA. "Fluid" means either of the two states of matter, liquid or gaseous.

BB. "Fugitive emissions" means any emissions which cannot reasonably pass through a stack, chimney, vent, or other functionally-equivalent opening or is not otherwise collected, unless the emission is otherwise regulated by the federal act, the Air Quality Control Act, or the laws and regulation in effect pursuant to the act.

CC. "Greenhouse gases" or "GHGs" means the air pollutant defined in § 86.1818-12(a) of Chapter I of Title 40 of the CFR, as the aggregate group of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

DD. "Grain" means that unit of weight, which is equivalent to 0.0648 grams.

EE. "Hazardous air pollutant" means an air contaminant which has been classified pursuant to the federal act, the Air Quality Control Act, or laws and regulations in effect pursuant to the act.

FF. "Hydrocarbons" or "HC" means any...