I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration was wrong to halt the publication of rules in the state Register and issued a writ that compels Martinez’s office to publish the rules. This included a greenhouse emissions cap rule passed by the Environmental Improvement Board last year and a rule on dairy regulations had been passed by the Water Quality Control Commission in December 2010.
Martinez had halted the publication of the rules with an executive order on her first day in office.
The high court’s ruling came after the New Mexico Environmental Law Center sued for a writ of mandamus, arguing that Martinez overstepped her bounds in stopping the publication of the rules. The NMELC sued on behalf of New Energy Economy and Amigos Bravos.
“This is a tremendous and deserved victory for the administration of justice in New Mexico,” stated Bruce Frederick, staff attorney of the NMELC. “The ruling ensures that our regulations will continue to be developed in a public and open process, and be protected from revision through secret, backroom deals.”
Martinez’s office had ruled that halting the publication of the rules was legal and argued, “The executive order suspending pending rules for 90 days only temporarily postpones the publication of the rule for a brief amount of time to allow for review.”
NMELC Communications Associate Juana Colón told the Santa Fe Reporter that she expected the ruling would apply to all pending rules, not just the two that were specifically mentioned in the suits.
Update:
Scott Darnell, a spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez, responded to The Independent’s request for comment and said in an e-mailed statement that Martinez “is pleased that the Supreme Court denied the Writ of Mandamus against the Governor and left the executive order in place requiring a 90-day moratorium on proposed rules and regulations.”
Darnell also said that the Governor, “intended to publish these regulations after the 90-day review” that Martinez ordered in her executive order on her first day in office.
“In the case of Cap and Tax,” Darnell said, referring to the greenhouse gas cap, “publishing now rather than in March has no impact, since the rule is not set to take effect until 2013. In the meantime, a new EIB will be appointed consisting of bi-partisan members who we fully expect will put science ahead of political ideology in every matter they consider.”
