As New Mexico Heats Up, Why Are NMED Leaders “Fiddling” Around on Heat Rules?

As the New Mexico Department of Health issues Heat Warnings this week, the state’s Environment Department seeks another delay – in a year-long series of at least three delays – for a hearing on important Heat Safety Rule.

There has been a lot of reporting lately about significantly high rising temperatures and the dangers created for residents.

For instance, in this mornings Santa Fe New Mexican, Health Care Accountability Reporter, Margaret O’Hara, writes, “State health officials are warning residents to watch out for heat illness, as temperatures are expected to approach or exceed 90 degrees across much of New Mexico this weekend.”

Much of the media’s reporting include the dangers that excessive heat temperatures pose for workers.

New Mexico Department of Heath Warns of Heat Illness as Temperatures Rise.

Data and comments about these dangers can be found at the New Mexico Department of Health Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau.

In a Department of Health press release (click here) – published yesterday – the agency wrote, “… warning residents to watch for heat illness this week as temperatures are expected to exceed 90 degrees across much of New Mexico starting Thursday …“

The press release also reported that, “Last summer there were 834 heat-related emergency department visits around the state,” said Chelsea Eastman Langer, Chief of the New Mexico Department of Health’s (NMDOH) Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau. “Children, adults over 65, outdoor workers, and people with chronic health conditions are the most vulnerable – and they need to take extra care when temperatures climb.” 

After Claiming Concern About The Region’s Rapidly Warming Climate, New Mexico Environment Department Seeks Third Delay in Hearing Heat Rule – Proposing more than a Year’s Delay From Original Starting Date Goal.

In March 2025, the Lujan Grisham administration announced, through a New Mexico Environment Department press release, it filed a petition to create a Heat Rule that would protect workers from extreme heat.

The press release also stated at the time (a year ago), “New Mexico is both hotter and dryer than in years past due to the impacts of climate change,” said Kristy Peck, [then] acting occupational health and safety bureau chief. “Employers need to protect their employees from the reality of heat-related injuries.”

The Environment Department (NMED) is the the state agency which enforces safety in the workplace.

In the Statement of Reasons for filing the proposed Heat Rule, NMED wrote, “New Mexico’s desert climate and naturally hot summer months, including the region’s rapidly warming climate, present a unique need for employee protection from heat illness and related injuries.“

But a year after basking in plaudits for filing the rule meant to protect workers from extreme heat exposure, The Candle learned (from inside sources state government not wanting to be identified for fear of retaliation), that the Democratic Governor and NMED leaders have succumbed to a different source of heat – opposition from employers and Republican legislators – and for the third time, are seeking postponement for the hearing on the proposed rule.

The NMED web-posted chronological record of this rule-making process seems to bear out what The Candle was informed regarding the NMED’s foot-dragging on adopting the Heat Rule.

According to that March 2025, NMED press release, the original plan was for the proposed rule to heard in June of 2025, and to take effect sometime in July of 2025.

On May 30, 2025, the NMED requested the hearing that was scheduled for July 16, 2025, be vacated and a new public hearing date be set for the week of November 3-7, 2025, writing, “Since filling its Petition with the EIB, the Bureau has received many public comments on the proposed Heat Illness and Injury Prevention rule.”

(The Environmental Protection Board (EIB), the rule-making body which holds the hearing, then changed the date of the hearing to January 12 through 14, 2026, due to previous existing commitments on its calendar.)

Then, more than two months before the hearing date that was scheduled for January 2026, the NMED wrote seeking another delay.

The request from the NMED stated, “… The Bureau believes it is in the best interest of the public and all interested stakeholders to allow for additional time for continued public comment and engagement on the proposed rule … For this reason, the Bureau respectfully requests that the hearing on its Petition, currently scheduled to begin on January 12-14, 2026, be vacated and that a new public hearing be scheduled for the week of April 27-May 1, 2026.” [From NMED Motion dated October 22, 2025.]

(Due to an apparent scheduling conflict for the members of the EIB team slated to hear the proposed rule, the hearing officer rescheduled the matter to be heard May 4-8, 2026.)

Fast forward to March 9, 2026.

The NMED seeks another delay, writing as one of its reasons to postpone the May hearing to August 2026, “…The Bureau has been informed that the Environmental Improvement Board will not have a quorum during the week of May 4-8, 2026, and therefore will be unable to conduct the scheduled hearing…”

Then, on NMED, when pressed about how the NMED determined the unavailability of sufficient members of the EIB to constitute a quorum, withdrew that reason, acknowledging the EIB would have a quorum for the scheduled May meeting.

Despite the availability of the EIB members for the scheduled May hearing, citing the agency’s decision to now develop a new proposed rule, and the appointment of a new person in charge of running the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, the administration continued to seek to “reschedule the hearing for the week of August 3-7, 2026.”

What was important to the Governor and NMED leadership a year ago, seems to not be the case now, despite the serious heat and health warnings of the Department of Health.

“Fiddling Around” as the State Heats Up?

Last year’s statement of reasons for proposing the Heat Rule includes the quotes below:

“In New Mexico, we have seen a trend over the past several years of significant increases in high temperatures. Physical exertion in high heat conditions is a known hazard that can result in heat exhaustion and heat stroke as well as long term conditions such as heart and kidney damage, neurological dysfunction, and death. The Bureau is proposing this new regulation to establish standards related to the occupational health and safety of employees to prevent heat illnesses and related injuries.

The statement of reasons continued, “… Outdoor workers are particularly at risk for dangerous heat exposure. BLS estimates that 33.0 percent of workers nationwide were exposed to the outdoors as a regular part of their job in 2023. Occupations with a high level of outdoor exposure include those involved in construction, highway construction, oil and gas extraction, agriculture, and public safety. Over the 2021–22 period, the trade, transportation, and utilities industry had 1,420 workplace injuries that resulted in at least one day away from work due to exposure to heat. Manufacturing had 980 days away from work cases and professional and business services had 740 cases…”

The leadership of the agency charged with protecting workers, despite its expressed concerns of a year ago, appears to be fiddling around even as New Mexico heats up even more.