Shortly after Michelle Lujan Grisham was elected governor, she started assembling her transition teams for various state agencies.
In November, Lujan Grisham announced that Sarah Cottrell Propst and Toby Velasquez will head the Natural Resources Committee, which reviews the agencies that oversee water, energy and environment issues. Velasquez is deputy director of New Mexico State Parks. Cottrell Propst is executive director of Interwest Energy Alliance and served as the energy and environmental policy advisor to Gov. Bill Richardson from 2006 to 2010.
Over the weekend, Lujan Grisham announced transition teams for the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department; the Environment Department; the Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission. Transition team members help assess the agencies and the issues they will face in the coming administration.
New Mexico Environment Department Transition Team:
Beth Beloff, chair, Sustainable Santa Fe Commission
Sandy Buffett, former executive director, Conservation Voters New Mexico
Charles de Saillan, staff attorney, New Mexico Environmental Law Center
Maureen Gannon, executive director of Environment, Safety and Land for PNMR Services
John Mitchiner, former senior manager of Computational Science Research and Development, Sandia National Laboratories
Jason Sandel, executive vice president, Aztec Well
Gabriel Vasquez, Las Cruces City Councilor
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Transition Team:
Kyle Armstrong, vice president, Armstrong Energy
Heather Balas, executive director, New Mexico First
Bryn Davis, El Paso Electric
Anna DeLay, educator
Jon Goldstein, director of environmental affairs, Environmental Defense Fund
Laura McCarthy, associate state director, The Nature Conservancy – New Mexico
Roberta Salazar Henry, former assistant director, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Juan Sanchez, president, Chilili Land Grant; member New Mexico Acequia Commission
Don Schreiber, rancher
Garrett VeneKlasen, former executive director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation
Office of State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission Transition Team:
Paula Garcia, executive director, New Mexico Acequia Association
Peter Garcia, Governor, Ohkay Owingeh
Kyle Harwood, attorney
Steve Hernandez, attorney
Alvin Jones, retired New Mexico State District judge
Adrian Oglesby, director, Utton Transboundary Resource Center, University of New Mexico School of Law
Bruce Thomson, professor, Civil Engineering and Water Resources Program, University of New Mexico
Stacy Timmons, hydrology program manager, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Tech
Ralph Vigil, chair, New Mexico Acequia Commission
