44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY; ENACTING THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Environmental Policy Act".

Section 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.--The legislature finds that:

A. comprehensive environmental and natural resource planning is determined to be:

(1) in the best interests of the public health, safety and general welfare of the people of New Mexico;

(2) necessary to protect the tax base; and

(3) best achieved through coordination of planning with federal, state, county, tribal and pueblo governments;

B. New Mexico is committed to preserving and protecting its biophysical environment and natural resources, ways of life, customs and cultural backgrounds;

C. continuing pressures and conflicting demands on the environment and natural resources require that the state use all practical means and measures to:

(1) foster and promote the general welfare;

(2) create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony; and

(3) fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of New Mexicans; and

D. New Mexico supports the purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act to:

(1) encourage the productive and enjoyable harmony between people and their environment;

(2) stimulate the health and welfare of people;

(3) assure safe, healthful, productive, aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings; and

(4) maintain, wherever possible, an environment that supports diversity and variety of individual choice.

Section 3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Environmental Policy Act:

A. "environmental document" means an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement;

B. "human environment" means the biophysical, natural, social, cultural and economic environment;

C. "major state action" means an action proposed by a state or federal agency or any public or private agency or organization funded with state or federal money, except for political subdivisions of the state and tribal and pueblo governments, that significantly affects the social, cultural, economic or biophysical environments of the state;

D. "responsible official" means the person responsible for approving a major state action;

E. "scope" or "scoping" means the act of determining the range of actions, alternatives, issues and impacts to be considered in an environmental document;

F. "significantly" means of import or meaning to the biophysical, social, cultural or economic environment; and

G. "special expertise" means possessing a unique knowledge of place through long habitation, practices of customs or in possession of historical, economic and recorded information specific to a locale.

Section 4. RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS--DUTIES.--The policies, regulations and public laws of this state shall be interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies set forth in the Environmental Policy Act, and all responsible officials in the state shall:

A. use a systematic, interdisciplinary approach in decision-making that will ensure integrated use of natural and social sciences for any major state action;

B. identify and develop methods and procedures for implementation and monitoring in consultation with the office of the governor that will ensure that social, economic, cultural and technical considerations are given appropriate consideration in state agency decision-making along with currently quantified and unquantified environmental amenities and values;

C. prepare a detailed draft environmental document disclosing:

(1) the social, cultural, economic and biophysical environmental impact of the proposed major state action;

(2) any adverse social, cultural, economic and biophysical environmental effects that cannot be avoided should the major state action be implemented;

(3) alternatives to the major state action;

(4) the relationship between local short-term uses of the human environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term economic productivity; and

(5) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of social, cultural, economic and biophysical resources that would be involved should the major state action be implemented;

D. in scoping the issues before preparing the detailed draft environmental document required by Subsection C of this section, coordinate and cooperate with local governmental entities, Indian tribes, pueblos and any state, local or federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any social, cultural, economic or biophysical environmental impacts involved;

E. make the draft environmental document available and consult with and obtain the comments of the public through public hearings in those counties in which the major state action will occur prior to producing any final environmental document;

F. ensure that copies of the final environmental document and the comments and views of those consulted shall be made available to the office of the governor and the public and shall accompany the proposal through the existing review processes; and

G. make available to counties, municipalities, institutions and other organizations or agencies engaging in major state actions and projects advice and information useful in restoring, maintaining and enhancing the quality of the social, cultural, economic and biophysical environment and in ensuring that major state actions and projects do not impair that quality.

Section 4. CONFLICT RESOLUTION.--

A. The responsible official shall study, develop and describe appropriate alternatives, including mitigation, to the major state action that involves unresolved conflicts between alternative uses of available resources.

B. In the event of unresolved conflicts between the proposed major state action and alternatives preferred by any local governmental entity, Indian tribe or pueblo or state or federal agency, the office of governor shall be the deciding authority, with the advice and recommendation of an environmental coordination committee consisting of the cabinet secretaries and the chairman of the board of county commissioners of those counties in which the major state action will occur.