Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Miles Wolf Tamboli-Talk Radio News Service

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar outlined the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service, the federal regulatory authority that has been facing mounting criticism over its management of the Deepwater Horizon rig, during an appearance before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

"The Minerals Management Service is no more," Salazar said.

The agency has been split, explained Salazar, into three separate branches and renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or the Bureau of Ocean Energy, for short.

"We believe that its important to separate the leasing functions from the enforcement functions, and also to separate the revenue functions from the enforcement functions as well," added Salazar.

Michael Bromwich, the new director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy, appeared alongside Salazar Wednesday. Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general, told the Senators that the MMS lacked "investigative capability," and that he wishes to build an infrastructure for internal and external accountability, in part to address what many have called MMS', "culture of corruption."