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In the orders, which offered no further comment on the court’s rulings, justices also unpaused the regulatory proceedings that have been frozen since August. “I don’t know what to say,” Colin Cox, a New Mexico-based attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told Source NM Thursday. “I’m a little surprised that they granted both stays, which was pretty extraordinary and then pulled them without any explanation.” In a statement, New Energy Economy Executive Director Mariel Nanasi said the plaintiffs were “terribly disappointed,” but acknowledged they had asked the state’s highest court “for extraordinary relief.” “We went to the Supreme Court because we believed the rules of this proceeding were stacked against meaningful public participation,” she said. “We sought a fair opportunity for the public to obtain the evidence, test the claims being made by the applicant and present its case before New Mexico decides whether to authorize an enormous new source of pollution.” The New Mexico Environment Department’s hearing officer who presided over the air quality permit application abruptly recused himself from the matter in August .