The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the

outer continental shelf The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a feature of the geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U. ...

(OCS). Due to perceived

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

and poor regulatory oversight following the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

and

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

investigations, Secretary of the Interior

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President B ...

issued a secretarial order on May 19, 2010, splitting MMS into three new federal agencies: the

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, established in 2010 by Secretarial Order. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) states: "...the outer Continental Shelf is a v ...

, the

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE "Bessie") is an agency under the United States Department of the Interior. Established in 2011, BSEE is the lead agency in charge of improving safety and ensuring environmental protection r ...

, and the

Office of Natural Resources Revenue The Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior, established by Secretarial Order. The new office exercises the royalty and revenue management functions formerly under the Minerals Manage ...

. MMS was temporarily renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) during this reorganization before being formally dissolved on October 1, 2011. Headquartered in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

, the Agency received most of its revenue from leasing

federal lands Federal lands are lands in the United States owned by the federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution ( Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal l ...

and waters to oil and natural gas companies with a profit margin of 98%. It was among the top five revenue sources to the federal government, the IRS being number one. As the MMS (before transition to BOEMRE), the Agency's signature feature according to an informational trifold was that it had "become our Nation's leader in offshore energy development and the collection of royalties on behalf of the American Public." With respect to enforcement of regulations and safety, this same publication indicated that the "MMS also funds advanced scientific studies and enforces the highest safety and environmental standards." The Agency's

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operatio ...

was put more formally in its 2010 Budget Proposal:

History

The Minerals Management Service was created on January 19, 1982. In January 1983, Congress passed the

Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

with the stated purpose: The Secretary of the Interior at the time,

James G. Watt James Gaius Watt (born January 31, 1938) is a public servant who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1981 to 1983. He has been described as "anti-environmentalist", and was one of Ronald Reagan's most controversial cabinet appointments ...

, designated MMS as the administrative agency responsible for execution of activities under the Act. With the passage of the

Energy Policy Act of 2005 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 () is a federal law signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The act, described by proponents as an attempt to combat growing energy probl ...

, MMS was given authority to develop renewable energy projects, such as wave, wind and current energy, on the Outer Continental Shelf. As of 2010, the agency was composed of two operating units, the MRM and OEMM. * Offshore Energy and Minerals Management (OEMM) – Under the guidance of the 1953

Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act {{Short pages monitor