N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 21, § 1551.2 – Definitions.

(a) Action means any activity of the State University Construction Fund, except an exempt action as defined in this section, including without limitation:
1. (1) physical activities such as construction or other activities which change the use or appearance of any natural resource or structure;
2. (2) funding activities such as the proposing, approval or disapproval of contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, tax abatements or exemptions or other forms of direct or indirect financial assistance;
3. (3) licensing activities such as the proposing, approval or disapproval of a lease, permit, license, certificate or other entitlement for use or permission to act;
4. (4) planning activities such as site selection for other activities and the proposing, approval or disapproval of master or long-range plans, zoning or other land use maps, ordinances or regulations, development plans or other plans designed to provide a program for future activities; and
5. (5) policymaking activities such as the making, modification or establishment of rules, regulations, procedures, policies and guidelines.
(b) SUCF shall mean the State University Construction Fund andSUNY shall mean the State University of New York.
(c) Environment means the physical conditions which will be affected by a pro-posed action, including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, noise, objects of historic or aesthetic significance, existing patterns of population concentration, distribution or growth, and existing community or neighborhood character.
(d) Environmental analysis means an SUCF evaluation of the short- and long-term, primary and secondary environmental effects of an action, with particular attention to the same areas of environmental impact as would be contained in an EIS. It is the means by which SUCF determines whether an action under consideration may or will not have a significant effect on the environment.
(e) Environmental impact statement (EIS) means a written document prepared in accordance with 6 NYCRR 617.14 and this Part. An environmental impact statement may either be a “draft” or be “final”, and as appropriate in context it may include a Federal draft or final EIS.
(f) Exempt action means any one of the following:
1. (1) maintenance, repair and/or rehabilitation processes involving no substantial changes in existing roads, trails, structures and facilities;
2. (2) except as set forth in section 1551.10 of this Part, actions undertaken or approved prior to the date(s) specified in article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law. An action shall be deemed to be undertaken or approved prior to such date(s) if, in the case of construction activities, a contract for substantial construction activities has been entered into or if a “continuous program” of on-site construction or modification and/or natural resource and environmental management has been engaged in¹, including protection measures against fire, insects and disease, and the implementation of recognized silvicultural practices in such natural resource and environmental management endeavors, or if, in the case of an action involving Federal participation, either a draft environmental impact statement or a negative declaration has been duly prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969;
3. (3) actions which are immediately necessary on a limited emergency basis for the protection or preservation of life, health, property or natural resources or the environment;
4. (4) actions of the Legislature of the State of New York or of any court;
5. (5) with respect to the requirements of subdivision 2 of section 8-0109 of article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law, actions subject to the jurisdiction of the Adirondack Park Agency pursuant to section 809 of the Executive Law, including actions of the Adirondack Park Agency thereunder; and actions subject to the jurisdiction of local governments pursuant to section 808 of the Executive Law and actions of such local governments pursuant thereto; and
6. (6) ministerial actions, i.e., actions performed upon a given state of facts in a prescribed manner imposed by law without the exercise of any judgment or discretion as to the propriety of the action, although such law may require, in some degree, a construction of its language or intent.
(g) Negative declaration means a written statement prepared by SUCF after conducting an environmental review of an action which announces that SUCF has determined that the action will not have a significant effect on the environment.
(h) Notice of determination means a written statement prepared by SUCF after conducting an environmental analysis of an action which announces that SUCF has determined that the action may have a significant effect on the environment.
(i) Environmental impact assessment form means a written analysis prepared by SUCF providing an identification and analysis of the environmental impacts of proposed actions.
(j) Lead agency means an agency primarily responsible for carrying out, funding, or approving an action, and therefore responsible for determining whether an environmental impact statement is required in connection with the action, and for the preparation and filing of the statement if one is required.
(k) Type I action means an action contained in 6 NYCRR 617.12, State Environmental Quality Review regulations, that is listed as likely to require the preparation of an environmental impact statement.
(l) Type II action means an action listed in 6 NYCRR 617.12, State Environmental Quality Review regulations, that the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation has found will not have a significant effect on the environment.
(m) Unlisted action means all actions not excluded or exempt, not listed as a type I or type II action in this Part, or in the case of a particular agency action, not listed as a type I or type II action in the agency's own SEQR procedures. If an action is an unlisted action, the limited procedural requirements of 6 NYCRR 617.7 apply to it.
(n) Typical associated effect means changes in one or more natural resources which usually occur because of impacts on other such resources as a result of natural interrelationships or cycles.