Collin O’Mara
Secretary
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Collin O’Mara serves as Secretary of the Environment and Energy for Delaware Governor Jack Markell. In this role, he serves as the chief steward of Delaware’s natural resources and leads the state’s efforts to improve air quality, ensure access to clean water, remediate contaminated sites, reduce flood damage, expand youth outdoor experiences, and restore wildlife habitat.
Since joining the administration, Secretary O’Mara has worked to modernize Delaware’s energy sector with a focus on reducing pollution, stabilizing costs, improving reliability, and seizing economic development opportunities. He has negotiated the shutdown of the most polluting coal units in the state and is helping to facilitate a wide range of renewable energy projects and energy efficiency initiatives.
Under the Governor’s leadership, Secretary O’Mara has spearheaded a range of innovative initiatives, including the First State Trails and Pathways Plan, which will help establish Delaware among the most bike and pedestrian friendly state in the nation, the Delaware Bayshore Initiative, which will help establish the region as a world-class conservation and low-impact recreation destination, and the No Child Left Inside/ Children In Nature campaign, which is a comprehensive strategy to confront childhood obesity.
In addition, Secretary O’Mara has led the largest investment in environmental infrastructure in the state’s history, including more than $200 million in wastewater and storm water systems, beach restoration, dam and dike repair, drainage projects, and park and wildlife area upgrades—all projects intended to prepare Delaware for current and emerging challenges.
He and his wife, Lindsay, live in Wilmington with their daughter, Riley Elizabeth.