Offshore Wind Wire

By William Morgan

Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar restructured the Minerals Management Service late last month in response to the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

MMS is part of the Interior Department and is responsible for regulating both offshore wind development and oil and gas drilling.  In an order signed on May 19, Salazar split the agency into three parts — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue.  The order takes effect 30 days after it was signed.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will handle “resource evaluation, planning and leasing,” according to Salazar’s order.  The Office of Natural Resources Revenue will be responsible for collecting lease payments and royalties.

On May 27, about a week after Salazar’s order, Elizabeth Birnbaum resigned as Director of the Minerals Management Service.  In a statement released by the Interior Department, Birnbaum acknowledged the restructuring, saying she is “hopeful that the reforms that the Secretary and the Administration are undertaking will resolve the flaws in the current system that I inherited.”

She will be replaced on an interim basis by Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey.

“Bob Abbey’s recent leadership on onshore energy reforms is exactly the kind of experience we need as we continue to reform and begin to restructure MMS,” Salazar said.