§ 8-0111 — Coordination of reporting; limitations; lead agency

§ 8-0111. Coordination of reporting; limitations; lead agency.\n 1. State and federal reports coordinated. Where an agency as herein\ndefined directly or indirectly participates in the preparation of or\nprepares a statement or submits material relating to a statement\nprepared pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental\nPolicy Act of 1969, whether by itself or by another person or firm,\ncompliance with this article shall be coordinated with and made in\nconjunction with federal requirements in a single environmental\nreporting procedure.\n 2. Federal report. Where the agency does not participate, as above\ndefined, in the preparation of the federal environmental impact\nstatement or in preparation or submission of materials relating thereto,\nno further report under this article is required and the federal\nenvironmental impact statement, duly prepared, shall suffice for the\npurpose of this article.\n 3. State and local coordination. Necessary compliance by state or\nlocal agencies with the requirements of this article shall be\ncoordinated in accordance with section 8-0107 and with other\nrequirements of law in the interests of expedited proceedings and prompt\nreview.\n 4. Effective date of coordinated reporting. The requirements of this\nsection with regard to coordinated preparation of federal and state\nimpact materials and reporting shall not apply to statements prepared\nand filed prior to the effective date of this article.\n 5. Exclusions. The requirements of this article shall not apply to:\n (a) Actions undertaken or approved prior to the effective date of this\narticle, except:\n (i) In the case of an action where it is still practicable either to\nmodify the action in such a way as to mitigate potentially adverse\nenvironmental effects or to choose a feasible and less environmentally\ndamaging alternative, in which case the commissioner may, at the request\nof any person or on his own motion, in a particular case, or generally\nin one or more classes of cases specified in rules and regulations,\nrequire the preparation of an environmental impact statement pursuant to\nthis article; or\n (ii) In the case of an action where the responsible agency proposes a\nmodification of the action and the modification may result in a\nsignificant adverse effect on the environment, in which case an\nenvironmental impact statement shall be prepared with respect to such\nmodification.\n * (b) Actions subject to the provisions requiring a certificate of\nenvironmental compatibility and public need in articles seven and ten of\nthe public service law or requiring a major renewable energy facility or\na major electric transmission facility siting permit under article eight\nof the public service law; or\n * NB Effective until December 31, 2040\n * (b) Actions subject to the provisions requiring a certificate of\nenvironmental compatibility and public need in articles seven, ten and\nthe former article eight of the public service law or requiring a siting\npermit under section ninety-four-c of the executive law; or\n * NB Effective December 31, 2040\n (c) Actions subject to the class A or class B regional project\njurisdiction of the Adirondack park agency or a local government\npursuant to section eight hundred seven, eight hundred eight or eight\nhundred nine of the executive law, except class B regional projects\nsubject to review by local government pursuant to section eight hundred\nseven of the executive law located within the Lake George park as\ndefined by subdivision one of section 43-0103 of this chapter.\n 6. Lead Agency. When an action is to be carried out or approved by two\nor more agencies, the determination of whether the action may have a\nsignificant effect on the environment shall be made by the lead agency\nhaving principal responsibility for carrying out or approving such\naction and such agency shall prepare, or cause to be prepared by\ncontract or otherwise, the environmental impact statement for the action\nif such a statement is required by this article. In the event that there\nis a question as to which is the lead agency, any agency may submit the\nquestion to the commissioner and the commissioner shall designate the\nlead agency, giving due consideration to the capacity of such agency to\nfulfill adequately the requirements of this article.\n