Susana Martinez Picks NM Tech Petroleum Engineer F. David Martin to Head Environment Department

Once again favoring her big donors from the fossil-fuel business, Governor Susana Martinez today nominated F. David Martin, M.S., an adjunct associate professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at New Mexico Tech, as Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). Martin, whose speciality is Enhanced Recovery, also has experience as an engineer and has earned degrees from both New Mexico Tech and Texas Tech. In 1990, he was appointed by then-Gov. Garrey Carruthers to coordinate policy between the state and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Martin is also the former director of the New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center (NMPRRC), whose mission “is to serve as NM’s focal point for improved oil and gas recovery research, to assist others in their efforts to recover petroleum and to transfer new and existing technology from our research labs to the oil and gas industry.” He once worked for Dave Martin and Associates, Inc., "with virtual employees in Los Alamos and Albuquerque, NM and in Houston, TX" (see here).

In a press release, Martin said he looks forward to working with Martinez to "implement commonsense policies that keep New Mexico beautiful and protect our environment while allowing for responsible development of our vast natural resources."

The Environment Department oversees permitting programs for everything from power plants and mining operations to national laboratories and other industrial operators to ensure state air and water quality standards are maintained and public health is protected

I wonder if he agrees with Harrison Schmitt, Martinez's choice to head the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, that greenhouse gas emissions are not damaging and that man-made climate change is a hoax.