Breakup begins of offshore oil drilling agency (Minerals Management Service)

[Auggie]

Thursday, May 20, 2010 / San Francisco Chronicle

Washington - -- The Obama administration on Wednesday formally began breaking up the embattled federal agency in charge of policing offshore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon disaster exposed regulatory lapses and possible conflicts of interests at the Minerals Management Service.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed an order carving the MMS into three pieces and extinguishing the once relatively little-known agency that President Obama last week criticized as having a "cozy relationship" with the oil and gas companies it regulates.

"This reorganization is vital to ongoing reform efforts," Salazar said in announcing the shakeup. "We will be able to strengthen oversight of the companies that develop our nation's energy resources."

Salazar said he was divvying up Minerals Management Service into three pieces:

-- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be in charge of developing energy resources on the outer continental shelf.

-- The Office of Natural Resources Revenue will be responsible for collecting royalties from oil and gas produced on federal property.

-- The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement will be responsible for imposing safety and environmental regulations on all offshore energy activity.

MORE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/MN2Q1DHFL5.DTL

The article adds that in 2008 an inspector general report documented sexual relationships and drug use among MMS officials and industry representatives.