FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            Contact:   Phil Sisneros      505-231-5846
Wednesday, January 9, 2008                                                                         Lynn Southard   505-222-9048

AG Asks Court to Order Enforcement of Public Records Request

(SANTA FE)---The Attorney General’s Office today filed a motion to intervene in a court action filed by the New Mexico Environment Department wherein NMED seeks an exemption from the state Inspection of Public Records Act. The AGO has twice informed the NMED that it must disclose the so-called TechLaw Report on groundwater evaluation concerning the Mixed Waste Landfill at Sandia Laboratories.

A group called Citizen Action New Mexico is seeking to review the report and filed a request for the document under the state’s public records law. The Environment Department refused the request and instead asked the District Court in Santa Fe to rule that the report is exempt from the Inspection of Public Records Act. The AGO is asking the Court to allow it to join Citizen Action New Mexico in opposing any exemption.

Attorney General Gary King says, “Our analysis is that the requested document is a public record and the report should be disclosed.”

The Attorney General is empowered by the state constitution to enforce provisions of the Inspection of Public Records Act and is therefore asking the Court to allow that enforcement.  

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