By Jim Williams
Santa Fe, NM – Attorneys for dairy producers crafted language for Gov. Susana Martinez's executive order putting off new environmental regulations, documents related to a Supreme Court case indicate.
On January 1st, Martinez issued the order delaying the new regulations for 90 days, saying she wanted more time to review them.
Among the court documents is an excerpt of an e-mail reading:
"Our attorneys (for the Dairy Group) Dal Moellenberg and TJ Trujillo of Gallagher & Kennedy drafted some language for the ex. order. We all assumed the environmentalist groups would sue and obviously they have."
See the document here: http://kunm.net/blog/2011/01/26/court-docs-industry-helped-write-martinez-order-delaying-new-regs/#more-201
As KUNM reported in December, the dairy industry contributed nearly $50,000 to Martinez's gubernatorial campaign. That story here: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunm/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1741446/news/New.NM.dairy.industry.regs.may.become.focus.of.incoming.Martinez.administration
Martinez on Wednesday denied industry influenced her decision to issue an executive order delaying the new regulations.