U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary
For Immediate Release: November 27, 2000
Contact: Tom Gorey 202/452-5031
Sylvia Baca Named Acting Director of BLM
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today announced that Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, Sylvia V. Baca, will serve in a dual capacity as Assistant Secretary and Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management. She succeeds Tom Fry, who retired from federal service November 24. The appointment is effective immediately.
"I am delighted that Sylvia Baca has agreed to assume this additional responsibility and serve as both Assistant Secretary and as the BLM's Acting Director," Babbitt said. "She has a deep commitment to the management of America's public lands and the responsible development of the nation's natural resources."
Ms. Baca is no stranger to the BLM Director's position. She served a seven-month stint (January - August 1997) as Interim Director of the agency, replacing Act Director Mike Dombeck when he was appointed Director of the U.S. Forest Service. Ms. Baca currently serves as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, the agency with oversight responsibility for the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, and the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement.
Ms. Baca has served as Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management since February 29, 2000, when the U.S. Senate confirmed her for that position. Before that, she served as Acting Assistant Secretary since October 1998. Ms. Baca joined the Interior Department in 1995 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.
Before joining the Clinton Administration in 1995, Baca served as Director of Finance and Management for the City of Albuquerque, where she was responsible for the fiscal integrity of city assets. Ms. Baca also held several positions in the New Mexico State government, including service with the Legislative Finance Committee and as Director of the State's Minority and Small Business program.
A native of Santa Fe, Baca received a Bachelor of University Studies in 1981 and a Master of Public Administration in 1989 from the University of New Mexico.
The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land -- 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion and a workforce of some 9,000 full-time, permanent employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.
December 7, 2000
Barney Congdon
(504) 736-2595
Caryl Fagot
(504) 736-2590
Debra Winbush
(504) 736-2597
MMS Awards Deep Water Royalty Relief to Fifth Field in the Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced that deep water royalty relief has been granted to Chevron U.S.A., Inc., to develop the Green Canyon Block 236 field offshore Louisiana. Royalties will be suspended on the first 87.5 million barrels of oil equivalent produced from the field, nicknamed Typhoon.
The Green Canyon Block 236 field lies partially in water deeper than 800 meters, about 175 miles south-southwest of New Orleans. Chevron operates the leases in the Green Canyon Block 236 field, which also consists of Green Canyon Block 237.
"Chevron’s Typhoon project demonstrates the important positive role that our discretionary royalty relief program can play in deep water exploration and development decisions," stated MMS Director Walt Rosenbusch. "Operators can now explore risky high-cost prospects with more confidence, knowing that they may qualify for royalty relief if they make a discovery that is uneconomic with the inclusion of sunk costs. In these cases, the operators will qualify for royalty relief by demonstrating that if relief were granted the discovery would be profitable to develop on a forward-looking basis."
The Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (DWRRA), signed by President Clinton in November 1995, allows the Secretary of the Interior to grant royalty suspension volumes on both producing and non-producing fields in water deeper than 200 meters to promote development, increase production, or encourage marginal production of Gulf of Mexico leases lying west of 87 degrees, 30 minutes West longitude. Since 1995, the MMS has granted requests for deep water royalty relief for four other fields in the Gulf.
MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses over $5 billion per year in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.
I thought we were told what 'great & qualified' people the Clintons appointed. /sarcasm
and Sylvia V. Baca, British Petroleum America, Inc., Washington, D.C., former Assistant Secretary of the Interior also testified.
Gee, wonder how she ended up there...?
bttt