Chris Craig Oynes (28 April 1947 – 18 October 2017) was an American lawyer and federal government administrator. Oynes was born in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

to Christian and Lorraine Oynes. Oynes received a BA degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

California State University at Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, and he received a JD degree from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

. Oynes served as U.S.

Minerals Management Service The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). Due to perceived conflict of intere ...

(MMS) associate director for offshore energy and minerals management before he retired in May 2010. During the 1990s, Oynes served as Deputy Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region, and he was named Regional Director of that office in 1995. Oynes who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

for 13 years before being promoted to MMS associate director. In his duties as Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico office, Oynes' managed the leasing of the OCS lands for oil, gas, and other marine minerals. This office was also responsible for environmental protection of these leased areas. Oynes supervised a staff of 550 federal employees, including environmental scientists, biologists, geologists, geophysicists, and petroleum engineers. Oynes had come under fire for being too close to the industry officials he regulated. During his tenure at the Gulf regional office in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

for the MMS, Oynes played a central role in an offshore leasing foul-up that cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion in lost revenue. The

Interior Department An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

's inspector general called the matter "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling." Despite that, the agency's then-director, Johnnie Burton, promoted Oynes in 2007 to associate director for the offshore program.Federal oversight of oil industry is broken: An editorial (The Times-Picayune, May 16, 2010)
/ref> On May 24, 2010 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that under his watch in the Gulf, MMS regulators allowed industry officials to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency. MMS staff also routinely accepted meals, tickets to sporting events and other gifts from oil companies. In 2008, a report from the Interior Department's Inpector-General found that MMS employees had received improper gifts from energy industry representatives. Another Inspector General report from 2010 found additional ethical lapses involving MMS employees and employees from oil and gas companies. Lee Tilton, the former Chief, Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA), for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, was a former protégé of Chris Oynes. In the wake of the ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill, Oynes announced that he would retire at the end of May 2010. According to the Minerals Management website, Oynes had "...more than 30 years of Federal Government experience..." Oynes died on 18 October 2017 in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oynes, Chris 2017 deaths 1947 births People from Anaheim, California California State University, Fullerton alumni George Washington University Law School alumni United States Department of the Interior officials