The protection of the state's beautiful and healthful environment is hereby declared to be of fundamental importance to the public interest, health, safety and the general welfare. The legislature shall provide for control of pollution and control of despoilment of the air, water and other natural resources of this state, consistent with the use and development of these resources for the maximum benefit of the people. (As added November 2, 1971.)

ANNOTATIONS

Special election. — Laws 1971, ch. 308, §§ 1 and 2, provided that all constitutional amendments proposed by the thirtieth legislature be voted upon at a special election on the first Tuesday of November, 1971, unless otherwise specified, and appropriated $171,000 for election expenses.

Cross references. — For Pollution Control Revenue Bond Act, see 3-59-1 to 3-59-14 NMSA 1978.

New Mexico constitutional and statutory provisions have incorporated and implemented the common law public trust doctrine. — Section 21 of Article XX of the New Mexico Constitution recognizes that a public trust duty exists for the protection of New Mexico’s natural resources, and it delegates the implementation of that specific duty to the legislature. The legislature has incorporated and implemented the common law public trust doctrine with regard to the process a person must follow in asserting his or her rights to protect the atmosphere by enacting the Air Quality Control Act, Chapter 74, Article 2 NMSA 1978, to address how protections for the atmosphere are implemented. The common law, where inconsistent with this statutory scheme, must yield to the governing statute. An individual may make a claim concerning the duty to protect the atmosphere, but such a claim must be raised within the existing constitutional and statutory framework and not alternatively through a separate cause of action, because a separate common law cause of action under the public trust doctrine would circumvent and render a nullity the process under the Air Quality Control Act that has established how competing interests are addressed and decisions are made regarding regulation of the atmosphere. Sanders-Reed v. Martinez, 2015-NMCA-063.

Where plaintiffs filed a civil complaint against the state of New Mexico seeking a judgment declaring that the common law public trust doctrine imposes a duty on the state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico, that the state’s failure to devise a plan to mitigate the effects of climate change is a breach of the public trust duty, and that the state should be ordered to produce a plan for redressing and preventing the impairment to the atmosphere caused by greenhouse gases, summary judgment in favor of the state was appropriate where the legislature has enacted a statutory framework to address how protections for the atmosphere are implemented, and the common law, where inconsistent with the statutory scheme, must yield to the governing statute. Sanders-Reed v. Martinez, 2015-NMCA-063.

Provision does not create a judicially enforceable individual right to any measure of pollution control. — Where plaintiffs, various advocacy organizations and individual New Mexicans, including several Indigenous people, filed suit against various executive agencies and officials, including the governor, the legislature, and the state of New Mexico itself, seeking various forms of declaratory and injunctive relief that call for the judiciary to declare that the current statutory and regulatory scheme controlling pollution from oil and natural gas fails to protect the environment under Article XX, Section 21 of the New Mexico constitution (Pollution Control Clause) and to enjoin defendants from permitting further oil and gas extraction until sufficient environmental protections are established, the district court erred in denying defendants' motion to dismiss because plaintiffs failed to present a claim upon which relief could be granted. The Pollution Control Clause of the New Mexico constitution does not create a judicially enforceable individual right to any measure of pollution control. Atencio v. State, 2026-NMCA-011, cert. granted.

Law reviews. — For note, "On Building Better Laws for New Mexico's Environment," see 4 N.M. L. Rev. 105 (1973).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 61A Am. Jur. 2d Pollution Control § 1 et seq.

Secured lender liability: application of security interest exemption from definition of "owner or operator" under § 101(20)(A) of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 USCS § 9601 (20)(A)), 131 A.L.R. Fed. 293.

39A C.J.S. Health and Environment §§ 115 to 157.