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Harrison Schmitt

SANTA FE - Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon and obtained a Ph.D. from Harvard University, was no ordinary job candidate.

Gov. Susana Martinez said Schmitt stood out from the pack. So she nominated him Thursday to be secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

Schmitt, 75, a Republican, said he wanted to be part of Martinez's cabinet because of loyalty to his homeland.

"I am a New Mexican," he said, adding that the state had been "ill-served" during the eight years that Democrat Bill Richardson was governor.

Schmitt, raised in Silver City, has a compelling resume and a formidable intellect, Martinez said.

He graduated from Harvard with a doctorate in geology in 1964, but his future was up in the air.

He became a Navy pilot and then an astronaut during the heyday of American space travel. Schmitt walked on the moon in 1972 as part of the Apollo 17 crew.

He left NASA for politics, running for the U.S. Senate in 1976. He unseated Democrat Joseph Montoya in that campaign, but survived only one term.

Another Silver City politician, Democrat Jeff Bingaman, unseated Schmitt in 1982.

Martinez proposes to pay Schmitt $105,000 a year as the executive responsible for both marketing and safeguarding New Mexico's natural resources. She has made much of cutting cabinet members' salaries, and said Schmitt would make $3,000 less than his predecessor.

As for expectations for the energy department, Martinez had a specific one.

She said

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she wanted Schmitt to evaluate regulatory policies to make certain that they are sensible. The state's natural resources must be protected, but job-creation should not be strangled by unnecessary rules, she said.

She said she also wanted New Mexico to compete for energy-related jobs that had been lost to Texas.

"I am most interested in his vision," she said of Schmitt.

Her expectation, she said, is that he will be a steward who protects the state's natural glories, and a marketer who develops them for economic progress.

Schmitt said alternative energy must be explored, but he cautioned that these sources have not proven practical in "a real business environment." Either taxpayers or ratepayers typically have had to subsidize alternative energy programs, he said.

Schmitt, who was on the last of the six American lunar missions, has a history of aiming high. He said that, in the winter of his life, he was proud to take on the challenge of making New Mexico a leader in energy and development of natural resources.

Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com.