Timeline/Index of Armendariz-WildEarth Guardians FOIA Production [red shading of the date indicates

there are emails, and the page number of the emails follows in brackets]
June 3 2009: WildEarth Guardians filed a Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit against EPA, WildEarth
Guardians v. Jackson, in Oakland, California federal district court.
1. Armendariz was a technical advisor to WildEarth Guardians on Regional Haze
i

2. Armendariz had a long term personal and professional relationship with Jeremy Nichols,
Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians, who was responsible for
the complaint. Armendariz listed Nichols as a reference on his c.v.
ii
Both are avowed
opponents of coal-fired electricity generation.
iii

November 5 2009: Armendariz becomes EPA Region 6 administrator.
November 10 2009: EPA and WildEarth Guardians file a consent decree to settle WildEarth
Guardians v. Jackson.
1. Deadline for EPA to act on New Mexicos Good Neighbor Provision was November 11,
2010, a year after the consent decree was filed.
December 8, 2009 [page 588] Armendariz emails to Jeremy Nichols Ive been on board exactly
1 week, and my life is already crazy. But if I can grab a free 15 minutes sometime soon Id like to
call and talk politics.
June 21, 2010 New Mexico Environment Department submitted a proposed Regional Haze State
Implementation Plan (SIP) to the Environmental Improvement Board on June 21, 2010. At the
Board meeting on July 6, the Board scheduled the hearing for October 4, 2010.
1. The Richardson administration Regional Haze plan is the precise plan EPA region 6 had
recommended. The Richardson NMED/EPA Region 6 Regional Haze plan cost at least 10
times more than what is required by the Clean Air Act.
July 2, 2010 [page 601] New Mexico Environment Department director Ron Curry meets with
EPA Region 6s Carl Edlund about the haze issues.
1. We would love to have the email on page 601 of the Armendariz FOIA response! It is
here where we suspect that Ron Curry and EPA Region 6 hatched a plan to ensure that
the Bill Richardson administrationand not its successorwould address the Regional
Haze rule.
August 2, 2010 [page 587] EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz meets with WildEarth
Guardianss Jeremy Nichols in Dallas.
August 4, 2010 [page 582] WildEarth Guardians sends a letter of support for the Richardson
NMED/EPA Region 6 Regional Haze plan.
1. This letter was sent only 2 days after Armendariz and Nichols met in Dallas.
August 10, 2010 PNM filed for a continuance through at least January 2011.
iv
The New Mexico
Environment Department did not oppose the motion, and it was granted by the Environmental
Improvement Board on August 12.
1. This was a big deal, because it meant that the successor to Democratic Governor Bill
Richardson would have the ultimate say on Regional Haze. At the time (late summer
2010), Republican candidate Susana Martinez was for the first time establishing a
significant polling lead over her Democratic opponent, Diane Denish.
v

2. In an August 25 interview, NMED director Ron Curry said, I think that [PNMs motion
for a delay] was a tactical mistake on their part. Their interpretation on the legalities of
what the EPA has to do [in terms of regulation] and what the state has to do were
interpreted incorrectly.
vi

September 10, 2010 [page 569] Armendariz and NMED director Ron Curry hold discussions.
1. Two weeks after Curry told an interviewer that PNM made a tactical mistake in
delaying New Mexicos Regional Haze determination until after Gov. Richardson was out
of office, he met with EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz.
October 1, 2010 [page 568] Armendariz and WildEarth Guadians Jeremy Nichols have a
conference call.
November 2, 2010: Susana Martinez wins New Mexico Gubernatorial election.
November 5, 2010: WildEarth Guardians and EPA negotiate new deadline for New Mexico,
presumably in order to give EPA Region 6 sufficient time to draft a federal implementation plan
for publication in the Federal Register.
vii
The resultant deadline for the Good Neighbor Provision
(December 22) was established before the Regional Haze deadline (January 15). Thus, EPA
locked itself into a course whereby it had to impose a federal plan.
viii

1. Governor-elect Martinez had campaigned against her predecessors environmental
policies. Her victory portended that New Mexicos Regional Haze plan would become
less onerous. In the immediate wake of her victory, the WildEarth Guardians v. Jackson
deadline for New Mexico was altered. It is almost certain that this is when EPA Region 6
decided to go all in with its strategy to use the consent decree to ensure that Gov.
Martinez would not have the ability to implement a less-costly Regional Haze plan.
December 13, 2010 [page 542] Armendariz and WildEarth Guardians Jeremy Nichols have a
scheduled conference call, talk about SJGS [San Juan Generating Station].
December 22, 2010 EPA Region 6 proposes a Regional Haze federal implementation plan for
New Mexico. It is the same as the Regional haze plan drafted by the Richardson administration.
August 22, 2011: EPA finalizes its federal implementation plan for Regional Haze. EPA does not
even consider New Mexicos submission, despite the Congresss intent that the Statesand not
the EPAbe the lead decision makers on Regional Haze. The Agency claimed that it does not
have the time to do so, because it has to comply with Good Neighbor Provision deadlines
established by WildEarth Guardians v. Jackson.







i
See page 1 of Al Armendariz c.v.,
ii
Ibid; the c.v. also makes it clear that Armendarizs relationship with Jeremy Nichols extended back to the latters
employment at the Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, an environmental non-profit he established in June 2006,
and which folded into WildEarth Guardians in Februrary 2008. Armendariz references work for Rocky Mountain
Clean Air Action on his c.v.
iii
After resigning as administrator of EPA Region 6, Armendariz joined the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign, the
purpose of which is to retire existing coal plants and to prevent new ones. Nichols leads WildEarth Guardians
Power Past Coal campaign, which has the same goals as Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign.
iv
http://www.pnm.com/news/2010/0811_emissions_controls.htm
v
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_gubernatorial_election,_2010
vi
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/blog-2395-curry-favor-sfrs-interview-with-environment-secret.html
vii
WildEarth Guardians v. Jackson Case4:09-cv-02453-CW Document 29, Filed 5 November 2010
viii
The 6 week extension gave EPA time to draft a proposed Regional Haze, Interstate Transport Federal
Implementation Plan for New Mexico.