The Office of the Secretary is responsible for departmental organization, staffing, budgeting and policies that enforce the laws and regulations which the department administers.

Cabinet Secretary - Ron Curry

Since January 2003, Ron Curry has served as Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department for Governor Bill Richardson. His deep commitment to environmental issues began in the early 1980's when he worked for CEI Enterprises.

Secretary Curry developed the first environmental strategic plan for the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), worked on an Environmental Impact Statement for Los Alamos National Laboratory and represented the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and the Coalition for Clean and Affordable Energy before the State Legislature. He served as the Environment Department’s first Deputy Secretary in the early 1990’s and worked as Santa Fe City Manager between 1997 and 1998.

Secretary Curry is chairman of the Rocky Mountain Low Level Radioactive Waste Board, an interstate government agency that administers a compact providing for the disposal of low level radioactive waste from the member states of New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. He served as a member of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, an independent federal advisory committee that advises the President and Congress on good neighbor practices along the U.S. border with Mexico. Ron Curry is a member of the New Mexico Finance Authority, and serves as secretary to the authority, which was established in 1992 to assist qualified governmental entities with affordable financing of capital equipment and infrastructure projects.

Secretary Curry was appointed as New Mexico's Natural Resources Trustee (ONRT) by Governor Bill Richardson on January 1, 2010. The authority to pursue natural resource damages lies in the State’s Natural Resource Trustee Act [NMSA 1978, §§ 75-7-1 et seq] and the following federal statutes: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 and the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972.

Secretary Curry has testified before the U.S. Congress four different times, speaking on issues ranging from climate change to cleaner water.

Secretary Curry, who was born in Hobbs and raised in Albuquerque, is an avid balloonist. He has flown KKOB Radio’s flagship hot air balloon at rallies around the state for 30 years. Secretary Curry, who lives in Albuquerque, has two children and three grandchildren.