New Mexico: Court Overrules Governor on Pollutants

By FELICITY BARRINGER

The State Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated two environmental rules that Gov. Susana Martinez blocked upon taking office last month. In a unanimous decision, the court ordered that the rules — one requiring annual 3 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and another aimed at controlling waste discharges from dairies — must be published in the state’s register, which will make them effective. Ms. Martinez had forbidden the register from publishing the rules. “No one is above the law,” the state’s chief justice, Charles W. Daniels, said as he announced the decision. The dairy industry had opposed a rule by the New Mexico Water Quality Commission requiring that all manure lagoons incorporate a synthetic liner to keep contaminants from leaching into the groundwater. Officials of the state’s Environment Department have estimated that two-thirds of such ponds have contaminated groundwater beneath them.