New Mexico Has New Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Lead

SANTA FE, N.M. — Melanie Kenderdine, a cofounder of the nonprofit Energy Futures Initiative here in Washington, has been confirmed as New Mexico’s new secretary for the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

The state Senate voted to confirm her nomination Monday morning.

“Sec. Kenderdine has earned a reputation as a global thought leader in energy deployment strategies that promote economic growth and protect the environment,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham after the result of the vote was announced. 

“Her expertise will continue to help my administration leverage the state’s natural resources responsibly for the benefit of all New Mexicans,” Lujan Grisham said.

State Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, who sponsored Kenderdine’s confirmation in the state Senate, said the new secretary has distinguished herself over the past 11 months as she worked to boost economic development in New Mexico through the use of clean-energy technologies.

“I look forward to continuing working with her on issues that are important to New Mexico,” Stewart said.

Since being named the department’s secretary designate last year, Kenderdine has overseen several successful initiatives including grants for home energy efficiency upgrades for low-income New Mexico households; reducing methane emissions from orphaned wells; and overseeing the cleanup of abandoned mines scattered across the state.

Before joining the department and cofounding the Energy Futures Initiative, Kenderdine also held high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Energy in both the Obama and Clinton administrations.

In the Obama administration, Kenderdine helped create Mission Innovation, now a 23-country initiative that supports transformational clean energy research, development and demonstration, and the modernization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

Kenderdine’s DOE Office led the management and analysis for the Quadrennial Energy Review, a multiyear, 22-agency roadmap for U.S. energy policy.

During the Clinton administration, she was a primary architect of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil exchange of 2000, the creation of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, and the return of the Naval Oil Shale Reserve No. 2 to the Ute tribe in Utah, the largest land transfer back to Native Americans in the lower 48 in over 100 years.

“I want to thank Gov. Lujan Grisham for giving me the opportunity to serve my home state as secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department,” she said on Monday. “I am grateful to be part of a team that is playing a central role in helping to shape a bright and prosperous future for New Mexico.” 

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue