WASHINGTON — S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum, former Staff Director for the Committee on House Administration and the Department of the Interior’s Associate Solicitor for Mineral Resources, has assumed her duties as the 10th Director of the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS).
Birnbaum will be responsible for an annual budget of US$323 million and 1,600 employees.
“I’m excited to join Secretary Salazar’s team and continue his initiative to push our nation toward a new energy frontier,” Birnbaum said.
The MMS managed the development of oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, as well as the U.S. offshore Renewable Energy Program. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses more than US$13 billion per year in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and American Indian lands.
