OP-ED...
Janet Lee-Sheriff is the President & Director of the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico (CLEAN) and the Chief Executive Officer & Director of Verdera Energy Corp.
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed what New York’s mayor called the “Miracle on the Hudson.” US Airways Flight 1549 had barely lifted off from LaGuardia when it struck a flock of geese, destroying both engines. What followed could have been a catastrophe. Instead, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger— drawing on more than 20,000 flight hours— made a decision few would even imagine: he turned the Hudson River into a runway.
A water landing is difficult in perfect conditions, but the Hudson is a corridor of ferries, bridges, skyscrapers, and currents. Yet in the midst of chaos, Sully showed what only deep experience can produce: calm, trained, deliberate response. His landing is now considered the most successful maneuver in aviation history.
Captain Sully provided calm leadership based on training and expertise, in a situation that looked to everyone on that plane, impossible. Captain Sully rose to the level of his training and experience.
Calm Expertise — What New Mexico Needs Now
So, what does Captain Sully’s story have to do with New Mexico? As New Mexico looks to a new future in the modern nuclear era, all of its citizens will encounter great opportunity. And with this opportunity comes great responsibility. New Mexico needs industry leaders with vast experience in fields that look impossible and unplanned from the outside. But inside their proverbial ‘cockpit’ there is calm expertise. People who have managed projects across the world, extracting uranium safely and providing costeffective nuclear energy with care for the land, water, air and people. They may not be able to land a plane on the Hudson River, but these experts from a variety of backgrounds, know how to build projects and extract uranium through proven technologies without the use of underground mines or open pits. These people, who I like to think of as my colleagues, have the background to be those calm, proven leaders when the people witnessing can’t always see how it is being accomplished.
So, what is CLEAN and why does experience and training matter?
The Clean Energy Association of New Mexico (CLEAN) provides education, awareness, and innovative tools to support a strong and safe nuclear energy sector grounded in In-Situ Recovery (“ISR”), a proven uranium extraction method with a minimal environmental footprint. At its core, CLEAN’s mandate is simple but powerful: to work with New Mexico – with its people, its communities, its traditions – not just with the uranium contained beneath its soil. CLEAN is committed to partnership, transparency, cultural respect, and dialogue. Progress begins not with extraction, but with relationships.
Years of work in mineral extraction, strategic planning, and community engagement have prepared me for this moment when New Mexico deserves partners with expertise and experience.
A Defining Moment: The Nuclear in New Mexico Conference
This is why the inaugural Nuclear in New Mexico conference, presented by CLEAN, taking place April 19– 22, 2026, matters so deeply. It is not simply another industry meeting. It is a watershed moment.
For the first time, Tribal Nations, local communities, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders will gather in one place—not to react to headlines or controversy, but to respond with preparation, clarity, and respect.
If New Mexico is to lead America’s nuclear era—and I believe it can—it must do so the way Captain Sully landed that plane: not by improvisation, not by fear, but by training, experience, and calm leadership.
Janet Lee-Sheriff is the President & Director of the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico (CLEAN) and the Chief Executive Officer & Director of Verdera Energy Corp.