On March 10, the New Mexico Senate confirmed Melanie Kenderdine as cabinet secretary for the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
Kenderdine, who grew up in the East Mountains, graduated from Manzano High School and the University of New Mexico. In May, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Kenderdine as Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD).
“Sec. Kenderdine has earned a reputation as a global thought leader in energy deployment strategies that promote economic growth and protect the environment,” Lujan Grisham said. “Her expertise will continue to help my administration leverage the state’s natural resources responsibly for the benefit of all New Mexicans.”
According to a press release from EMNRD, since being appointed, Kenderdine has overseen several initiatives, including grants for home energy efficiency upgrades for low-income New Mexico households, reducing methane emissions from orphaned wells and cleaning up abandoned mines scattered across the state.
“Over the past 11 months, Secretary Designate Kenderdine has made valuable contributions to boosting economic development in our state through the use of clean-energy technologies,” said Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart. “I was honored to sponsor her confirmation in the Senate and look forward to continue working with her on issues that are important to New Mexico.”
Before joining EMNRD, Kenderdine was co-founder, principal and executive vice president of the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to harnessing the power of technology and policy innovation to accelerate the clean energy transition. She also held high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the Obama and Clinton administrations.
In the Obama administration, Kenderdine helped create Mission Innovation, now a 26-country initiative supporting transformational clean energy research, development, demonstration, and the modernization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Kenderdine’s DOE Office led the management and analysis for the Quadrennial Energy Review, a multi-year, 22-agency roadmap for US energy policy.
During the Clinton administration, Kenderdine 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,” Kenderdine said. “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.”