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Court: Martinez Cannot Delay Environmental Rules

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Environmental groups have been handed a victory by the New Mexico Supreme Court in a pair of cases that challenged an attempt by Gov. Susana Martinez's administration to delay publication in the state register of recently approved pollution control measures.

The Supreme Court is ordering the state records administrator to publish the rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions and dairy discharges.

Chief Justice Charles Daniels says there's great importance attached to the cases because they speak to the separation of powers. He says the records administrator has a duty under state law to publish rules that are filed with the records center regardless of the requests made by the executive branch or disputes over the rules' merits.

The administration had requested the publication delay so any new rules could be reviewed.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.