The New Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with environmental groups 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 court issued its decision before a packed courtroom after a short deliberation, bringing an end to a three-week dispute over whether the Martinez administration had the authority to ask the state records administrator to delay the rules' publication. Without publication, the rules do not become effective.

The rules are aimed at tackling greenhouse gases emitted by large polluters and discharges from dairies across the state.

Chief Justice Charles Daniels said the law is clear that the records administrator has a duty to publish in a timely manner any rules filed with the records center. He said that duty must be fulfilled regardless of requests made by the executive branch or any disputes among the parties over the general merits of the rules.

"We think there's a great public importance attached to this," Daniels said. "There are issues of separation of powers here. Each branch of government and various agencies of the government have separate defined powers under the rule of law, and the rule of law can't work if agencies that don't have that power intrude on the powers of other entities."

The court ordered the records administrator to follow the law and publish the rules in the next available issue of the register. With publication, the court said the public would be officially notified of the regulations, which were approved in the waning weeks of former Gov. Bill Richardson's administration after months of heated debate, public meetings and expert testimony.

Environmentalists said Wednesday that they felt vindicated by the court's decision.

"It shows that no one is above the law, and as the judges said, there's a separation of powers and everybody has their duties, and that has to be respected," said Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, the environmental group that first petitioned state regulators two years ago to adopt a greenhouse-gas-emissions cap.

The lawsuits filed on behalf of the environmental groups by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center alleged Martinez exceeded her powers by blocking the publication of rules adopted by state regulators. The law center sought to have Martinez, the secretary-designate of the Environment Department, and the records administrator follow the law and have the rules published.

The court did not issue any orders addressing the governor or the environment secretary, explaining that the duty to publish the rules falls to the state records administrator.

The Governor's Office argued it was abiding by the law, and that the publication delay was only temporary. It said the delay was aimed at giving the new administration time to review all pending regulations by executive agencies to determine if they hurt New Mexico businesses. The review was set in motion by an executive order Martinez issued on her first day in office. That order also directed agencies to analyze rules and regulations that are already in place and determine which ones should be scrapped to improve economic development and job growth.

The court's ruling will not affect the review effort, said Paul Kennedy, the attorney who represented Martinez.

Kennedy told the court that Martinez fully expected the rules in question to eventually be published and become law, and that the delay was simply a request for "some breathing room."

"Nobody is harmed by this temporary suspension," Kennedy said.

Bruce Frederick, an attorney with the environmental law center, argued that the basic process by which administrative law is adopted and published in New Mexico was at stake. He said the governor has other means for undoing regulations, such as appointing new regulators who are sympathetic to her agenda and petitioning those regulators for change.

"That process will be public. There will be notice. If they change those regulations, it has to be based on substantial evidence," Frederick said. "It can't be done without notice, with no evidence, with basically a backroom process."

The greenhouse-gas rules are essentially a backup measure to regulations that allow the state to participate in a regional cap-and-trade program. Both measures call for large polluters such as coal-fired power plants and refineries to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions each year from baseline levels. The dairy regulations spell out requirements to ensure groundwater sources are protected from discharges.

Critics of the rules contend they will be costly and push businesses and jobs out of New Mexico. But supporters say they give the state the necessary tools to address environmental protection.

While Wednesday's decision settles whether the regulations will be published, the rules' fate remains uncertain. Legislators have introduced bills in the 60-day session under way that would either roll back the regulations or change the way such rules are adopted. And utilities, industry groups and others intend to challenge the rules before the New Mexico Court of Appeals.



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