Otero County, NM Guidelines for Decisionmaking in Use of Public Lands

The following guidelines will be used whenever land use or management decisions are being made concerning public lands in Otero County using only reliable, high-quality, high-utility information, science and data that has been gathered, interpreted, reported and preserved in a manner that demonstrates the utmost integrity:

Each agency shall identify the problem that it intends to address (including, where applicable, the failures of private markets or public institutions that warrant a new agency action) as well as assess the significance of that problem.

Each agency shall (consistent with its own rules, regulations or procedures) provide the public with meaningful participation in the regulatory process. In particular, before issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking, each agency should, where appropriate, seek the involvement of those who are intended to benefit from and those expected to be burdened by any regulation (including, specifically, state, local and tribal officials). In addition, each agency should afford the public a meaningful opportunity to comment on any proposed regulation, which in most cases should include a comment period of not less than 60 days. Each agency also is directed to explore and, where appropriate, use consensual mechanisms for developing regulations, including negotiated rulemaking.

Each agency shall examine whether existing regulations (or other law) have created, or contributed to, the problem that a new regulation is intended to correct and whether those regulations (or other law) should be modified to achieve the intended goal of regulation more effectively.

Each agency shall identify and assess available alternatives to direct regulation, including providing economic incentives to encourage the desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits, or providing information upon which choices can be made by the public.

In setting regulatory priorities, each agency shall consider, to the extent reasonable, the degree and nature of the risk posed by various substances or activities within its jurisdiction.

When an agency determines that a regulation is the best available method of achieving the regulatory objective, it shall design its regulations in the most cost-effective manner to achieve the regulatory objective. In doing so, each agency shall consider incentives for innovation, consistency, predictability, the cost of enforcement and compliance (to the government-regulated entities and the public), flexibility, distributive impacts, and equity.

Each agency shall base its decisions on the best reasonably obtainable, peer-reviewed scientific, technical, economic and other information concerning the need for, and consequences of, the intended regulation.

To the degree that an agency action is based on science, to use: i) the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices; and ii) data collected by accepted methods or best available methods (if the reliability of the method and the nature of the decision justifies use of the data). These guidelines call for an additional level of quality in those situations involving influential scientific or statistical information. The additional level of quality concerns a standard of care for scientific or statistical analytical results that are capable of being substantially reproduced pursuant to the standard that is discussed below.

(1)

"Capable of being substantially reproduced" means that independent reanalysis of the original or supporting data using the same methods would generate similar analytical results, subject to an acceptable degree of imprecision.

(2)

"Influential," when used in the phrase "influential scientific or statistical information," means the agency expects that information in the form of analytical results will likely have an important effect on the development of domestic or international government or private sector policies or will likely have important consequences for specific technologies, substances, products or firms.

In all decisionmaking activities, agencies shall seek views of appropriate state, local, and tribal officials before imposing regulatory requirements that might significantly or uniquely affect those governmental entities. Each agency shall assess the effects of federal regulations on state, local, and tribal governments, including, specifically, the availability of resources to carry out those mandates, and seek to minimize those burdens that uniquely or significantly affect such governmental entities, consistent with achieving regulatory objectives. In addition, as appropriate, agencies shall seek to harmonize federal regulatory actions with related state, local, and tribal regulatory and other governmental functions.

Each agency shall avoid regulations that are inconsistent, incompatible, or duplicative with its other regulations or those of other federal, state or local agencies.

Each agency shall tailor its regulations to impose the least burden on society, including individuals, businesses of differing sizes, and other entities (including small communities and governmental entities), consistent with obtaining the regulatory objectives, taking into account, among other things, and to the extent practicable, the costs of cumulative regulations. Additionally, all proposed actions shall expressly report the effect or likely effects of proposed land use or management decisions on the local communities, their customs, culture, economic stability and historical heritage.

Each agency shall draft its regulations to be simple and easy to understand with the goal of minimizing the potential for uncertainty and litigation arising from such uncertainty.