Minerals Management Service

Minerals Management Service
Seal of the MMS
Agency overview
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Annual budget	US$310 million (2009)[1]
Agency executive	S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum, Director
Parent agency	Department of the Interior
Website
http://www.mms.gov/

The purpose of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), as part of the United States Department of the Interior, is to manage the mineral resources on federal and Indian lands as well as the subsea-surface lands of the Outer Continental Shelf in an environmentally sound and safe manner, and to collect, verify, and distribute, in a timely fashion, mineral revenues generated from Federal (onshore and offshore) land and Indian lands. MMS manages two very important programs, the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Program and the Minerals Revenue Management Program.

As of August 2005, the MMS also regulates offshore renewable and alternative energy resources on Outer Continental Shelf lands such as wind, wave, and solar.^[2]

S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum assumed duties as Director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) on July 15, 2009.

Controversy

In September 2008, reports by the Inspector General of the Interior Department, Earl E. Devaney, were released that implicated over a dozen officials of the MMS of unethical and criminal conduct in the performance of their duties.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

See also

Offshore oil and gas in the United States

Deep Water Royalty Relief Act

References

1. ^ "2010 Budget Justification". MMS. http://www.mms.gov/adm/PFD/2010BudgetJustification.pdf. 
2. ^ "Cape Wind Threats: Permit Process". Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. 2007. http://www.saveoursound.org/site/PageServer?pagename=CapeWind_Threats_PermitProcess. Retrieved 2007-12-05. 
3. ^ "Report Says Oil Agency Ran Amok: Interior Dept. Inquiry Finds Sex, Corruption". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091001829.html. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
4. ^ "Sex, Drug Use and Graft Cited in Interior Department". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
5. ^ "Oil companies gave sex, drinks, gifts to federal overseers". McClatchy Newspapers. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/52243.html. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
6. ^ "Memorandum [cover letter by inspector general]". http://media.mcclatchydc.com/smedia/2008/09/10/18/Gordon-OIG-Cover-Letter.source.prod_affiliate.91.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
7. ^ "Investigative Report of Gregory W. Smith (Redacted)". http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/investigative/documents/smith-080708.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
8. ^ "Investigative Report of MMS Oil Marketing Group - Lakewood (Redacted)". http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/investigative/documents/mmsoil-081908.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
9. ^ "Government Officials Tried To Rewrite Ethics Rules To Accommodate Their Partying". http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/10/rik-ethics-rules. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
10. ^ "Official increased employee’s ‘performance award’ for providing him with cocaine". http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/10/smith-cocaine. Retrieved 2008-09-11. 
11. ^ Simon, Dan; David Fitzpatrick (October 14, 2008). "Whistleblower: Oil watchdog agency 'cult of corruption'". CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/14/oil.whistleblower/index.html. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 

External links

• "Minerals Management Service". http://www.mms.gov/. Retrieved 2005-11-26. 
• Project On Government Oversight
• New York Times, "Sex, Drug Use and Graft cited in Interior Department," September 10, 2008.
• New York Times, "Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil," December 3, 2006.
• CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, "Keeping Them Honest: Oil Royalties," January 18, 2007
• U.S. News and World Report, "A billion here, a billion there," December 10, 2006.
• Washington Post, "Harvesting Energy From Public Land May Owe U.S.," May 7, 2006.
• PBS NOW, "Crude Awakening," June 16, 2006
• Minerals Management Service, "Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf, 2006," February 2006

v • d • e Agencies of the United States Department of the Interior Secretary of the Interior · Deputy Secretary of the Interior Bureau of Land Management · Bureau of Indian Affairs · Office of Surface Mining · Bureau of Reclamation · Fish and Wildlife Service · Minerals Management Service · National Park Service · Geological Survey · Office of Insular Affairs · National Business Center

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