Board eyes greenhouse-gas rules

Environmentalists decry decision to reopen hearings

Jeri Clausing | The Associated Press

"ALBUQUERQUE — A state board appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez agreed Monday to consider repealing greenhouse-gas regulations opposed by her administration, utilities and oil and gas companies.

The Environmental Improvement Board scheduled a series of public hearings beginning Nov. 8 on the rules, which were put in place under former Gov. Bill Richardson.

Martinez calls the carbon controlling rules a "cap and tax" and included them on a list of Richardson-era environmental regulations that she has targeted as hampering business growth in the state.

Public Service Company of New Mexico and others had gone to court seeking to overturn the rules. The state Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court agreed recently to let the parties take the issue back to regulators for consideration.

The decision to reopen hearings on the matter raised the ire of environmentalists, who have accused Martinez's administration of secretly colluding with polluters by holding meetings with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in an effort to move the case out of the courts and back under the administration's control. " More>>>>