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The Web / Organizations / Eastern Research Group, LLC (ERG)

Dossier · Organization

Eastern Research Group, LLC (ERG)

verification: primary-source

NMED's technical contractor, which since September 2025 has also supplied the department's hearing officers, including for the Project Jupiter air-permit hearing.

At a glance

Kind: Company
Role in the project: Contractor or consultant
Jurisdiction: Private sector (no public jurisdiction)
Key people: Susan Day · John Koupal
Also known as: ERG
Verification: primary-source — Read off the primary document itself
In the record: 2 sources · 3 connections · 4 dated entries
Record id: PJO141

Key facts

Has worked for the New Mexico Environment Department since at least 2021; in 2022 it opened a Santa Fe office.^[1]
Its master contract, No. 25-667-4091-44019, authorizes up to $9,500,000, a contractual maximum rather than a statement of what NMED has spent.^[1]
The contract covers regulation development, technical analyses, expert testimony for regulatory hearings, permitting, and air-dispersion and emissions-inventory modeling.^[1]
2025-09-12On September 12, 2025, NMED amended the agreement to add a hearing-officer category; Deputy Secretary John Rhoderick signed it on the line printed for the Cabinet Secretary.
2026-07-07In July 2026 the appointed hearing officer, Max Shepherd, wrote that he could not act until Susan Day at ERG completed his service contract.
2026-08-21The contract documents entered the air-permit hearing record in an August 21, 2026 filing by Nicholas Maxwell.^[1]

The record

A professional-services firm that has worked for the New Mexico Environment Department since at least 2021, and that since September 2025 has also been the contractor supplying NMED's hearing officers.

Its master contract, No. 25-667-4091-44019, authorizes up to $9,500,000 and covers legislation and regulation development, technical analyses, support for regulatory hearings through written and oral expert testimony and exhibits, air-quality and climate-program support, permitting, data analysis, and air-dispersion and emissions-inventory modeling.

In 2022 ERG opened a Santa Fe office, describing it publicly as a way to build on several preceding years of NMED work. The $9.5 million is a contractual maximum, not a statement of what NMED has spent.

Relationships · 3

Has as executive· 2

Contractor for

NM Environment Department (NMED)

In the timeline · 4

Sep 12, 2025The Environment Department makes its technical contractor the supplier of its judges Jul 7, 2026The appointed hearing officer says he cannot act until a contractor completes his contract Jul 29, 2026Two days later, the hearing moves five weeks earlier Aug 21, 2026The same question was put to a court once before, and went unanswered

Dated entries in the record that involve this party. Appearing here is not an allegation — it means the graph draws an edge from this dossier to that event.

Claims involving them · 1

The question has been put to a New Mexico court before, and it was never answeredprimary-source

In the Watch · 2

documentNMED–ERG master contract No. 25-667-4091-44019, and the 2024 procurement behind it

documentAmendment No. 01 — NMED adds a hearing-officer category to its technical contractor's agreement (Sept 12 2025)

Sources · 2

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