MMS Personnel who Interacted with the OCS Scientific Committee in 1999
ROSENBUSCH, WALT - Director
Mr. Rosenbusch was sworn in as Director of the MMS by the Secretary of the Interior Bruce
Babbitt on May 19, 1999. In this capacity, Mr. Rosenbusch is responsible for the
administration of various programs that ensure the effective management of mineral
resources located on the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf. This includes the
exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas, and the collection and
distribution of revenues for minerals developed on Federal and Indian lands. Mr.
Rosenbusch is no stranger to the issues of the Department. Prior to his appointment as MMS
Director, his government experience includes a 1993-96 posting as a special assistant to
the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, where he served as liaison for
MMS, working on federal oil, gas and mineral royalty issues. He also served as the
Department’s primary contact for the Clinton Administration’s initiatives on oil
and gas policies. Mr. Rosenbusch is a native of Austin, Texas, and a business
administration graduate from the University of Texas in Austin. He is a member of the
Petroleum Accountants Society of Houston, the Institute of Professional Taxation,
Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and a
former member of the Natural Gas Marketing Association of Houston.
KITSOS, TOM - Deputy Director
Until May 16, 1999, Dr. Kitsos was named Acting Director of the MMS by Ms. Sylvia Baca,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals, on February 21, 1999. In this capacity,
Dr. Kitsos manages the programs of MMS, which include the administration of the leasing,
development, and production activities for natural gas, oil, and other mineral resources
located on the Nation's OCS, and the collection, accounting, and distribution of revenues
from minerals development on all Federal and Indian lands. Since November 3, 1998, he has
served as Deputy Director of MMS. Prior to being named the Deputy Director, he served as
staff assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals
Management from June 1996 through October 1998 and was responsible for energy development
and royalty issues on Federal and Indian lands for the MMS and the Bureau of Land
Management. Between January 1995 and October 1998, he was Program Director for the MMS
Office of International Activities and Marine Minerals where he managed the MMS program
for non-energy OCS mineral resources and the MMS international information exchange and
training initiatives. Prior to MMS, Dr. Kitsos served as a staff member on the Committee
on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in the U.S. House of Representatives for 20 years where
he gained extensive experience analyzing national ocean and coastal issues, offshore
energy development, and environmental and marine resource management legislation. He ended
his tenure as the Committee's Chief Counsel. His many accomplishments included overseeing
amendments to the OCS Lands Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the Oil Pollution
Act of 1990. Dr. Kitsos holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the
University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), and was a faculty member at the University of
Colorado before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1974. He has written some 30 papers on
ocean, coastal and other public policy issues.
KALLAUR, CAROLITA - Associate Director for
OMM
Ms. Kallaur was appointed Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management on January
21, 1997. She previously served as Deputy Director of the MMS from November 28, 1995. She
has a Masters in Economics from the University of Connecticut and has been in federal
service for more than 29 years. During her federal service, she has worked on offshore oil
and gas matters in the Bureau of Land Management and the Office of the Secretary as well
as MMS. She has garnered numerous honors including the Interior Department’s
Meritorious Service Award in 1985, the Distinguished Service Award in 1987, the
Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 1987 and 1992, and the Presidential Distinguished
Rank Award in 1995 for her exceptional contributions to the offshore program. Ms. Kallaur
has been with the Interior Department since 1968, when she began her federal career. She
joined the MMS in 1982, where she served initially as Chief, Offshore Leasing Management
Division then as Deputy Associate Director for Offshore Leasing and then as Program
Director of the Office of International Activities and Marine Minerals--a position in
which she successfully moved the Agency into a more prominent international role. All have
been Senior Executive Service positions. Prior to joining MMS, Ms. Kallaur was an
economist with the Bureau of Land Management, where she played a key role in the
development of policies and procedures related to OCS oil and gas exploration and
development in frontier areas. She moved on to work with the Secretary's Office of OCS
Program Coordination, and was then promoted to Assistant Director for OCS Program
Coordination.
BASSIM, KHALED M.
Mr. Bassim is a Biological Oceanographer, Office of International Activities and Marine
Minerals. He has been with MMS for almost two years after receiving his Masters of Science
in Marine Biology at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and performing coral reef
research at the University of Hawaii in Oahu. He is responsible for reviewing the
biological portions of environmental studies in support of the MMS marine minerals
program. He is also responsible for consulting on Endangered Species and Essential Fish
Habitat issues that arise, and is assisting in the development of a marine minerals
Geographic Information System.
BOATMAN, MARY
Dr. Boatman is an Oceanographer in the Toxicology and Risk Assessment Section, Gulf of
Mexico/Atlantic OCS Region. She serves as a Contracting Officer’s Technical
Representative for a number of Environmental Studies Program contracts related to chemical
issues in the Gulf, including synthetic based muds. She co-authored the white paper
“Ocean Gas Hydrates Research and Activities Review.”
CIMATO, JIM
Mr. Cimato is a senior staff analyst in the Environmental Studies Branch. He is
responsible for developing MMS-wide policies and procedures governing the formulation and
implementation of the Environmental Studies Program. As an Oceanographer within the
branch, Mr. Cimato coordinates many of the fates and effects studies within MMS and the
Coastal Marine Institute program. Mr. Cimato worked in the private sector in oil pollution
prevention research before joining the federal government in 1975.
CLUCK, RODNEY E.
Dr. Cluck holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Mississippi State University and a Masters
Degree in Rural Sociology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. His areas of
interest and research include environmental sociology, race and culture, community impact
assessment, social change and development, rural sociology, and social stratification. He
has also conducted research in cooperation with the Southern Rural Development Center, the
Social Science Research Center, and the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social
Work at Mississippi State University. His research at Mississippi State University was
primarily directed towards environment and society, consequences of mineral extraction,
community impacts of development, and issues concerning education and labor. Dr. Cluck is
presently the Headquarters’ Sociologist for the MMS/Environmental Studies Program of
the U.S. Department of the Interior.
COWLES, CLEVE
Dr. Cowles is Chief, Environmental Studies Section, Alaska OCS Region. His
responsibilities include managing a multi-disciplinary staff to implement the Alaska
environmental studies portion of the MMS Environmental Studies Program. Dr. Cowles has
been with the Alaska OCS Region since 1979, serving as Chief of the Environmental Studies
Unit from 1983-1995, and as Acting Chief of the Social and Economic Studies Unit from
1992-1995.
CRANSWICK, DEBORAH
Ms. Cranswick is a Senior Environmental Scientist with the Environmental Assessment
Section in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region. She has a B.S. in Geology and has been involved
specifically with deepwater issues for the last four years. She is co-author of the Gulf
of Mexico’s Deepwater Report, coordinator of the Deepwater Environmental Assessment,
and Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for the Floating Production,
Storage and Offloading Systems Environmental Impact Statement contract.
DRUCKER, BARRY S.
Mr. Drucker is a Physical Scientist, Office of International Activities and Marine
Minerals. He is responsible for formulating and recommending environmental studies in
support of the MMS marine minerals program. He develops statements of work for funded
studies and oversees projects as MMS Contracting Officer's Technical Representative.
KENDALL, JAMES J.
Dr. Kendall is the Chief, Environmental Studies Section, Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic OCS
Region. He is responsible for managing the Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Regions' environmental
studies. The Gulf studies support OCS management decisions for the Western, Central, and
Eastern Planning Areas of the Gulf and the planning areas of the Atlantic. Prior to his
current position, he served as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for a
number of Environmental Studies Program contracts including the Panama Oil Spill Study,
the Produced-Waters Study, and the Disperse Oil and Toxicity Testing.
LABELLE, ROBERT P.
Mr. LaBelle is the Executive Secretary of the OCS Scientific Committee and Chief,
Environmental Division. In this position, he has management oversight for all of the MMS's
environmental activities. This includes the MMS Environmental Studies Program, the
National Environmental Policy Act analyses performed by MMS to evaluate lease sales and
industry proposals, and support of MMS environmental regulations. Prior to this position,
he was responsible for establishing and defending Department of the Interior policy on
oceanography as applied to environmental impact assessment of offshore activity. He has
published on oil-spill modeling and impact assessment, and holds degrees in biology,
marine ecology, and management.
LIMA, JIM
Dr. Lima, Sociologist for the MMS Pacific OCS Region, earned his Ph.D. in Political
Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His dissertation, The Politics
of Offshore Oil Development, examines the geographic, technological, economic, and
political factors that shaped development of offshore energy resources at the Santa
Barbara Channel, California. Prior to coming to the MMS in 1997, Dr. Lima taught American
Government, Public Administration, Environmental Management at Troy State University, and
Coastal Zone Management at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. He currently teaches a
course in American Government at Moorpark College. Other positions he has held include
Maritime Historian for Channel Islands National Park, an engineer in California's
aerospace industry, and as an air traffic controller intern for the Federal Aviation
Administration.
LUTON, HARRY
Dr. Luton is the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region’s Sociologist for MMS' Environmental
Studies Program. His University of Michigan Ph.D. dissertation is on an Eskimo whaling
community in northern Alaska. Dr. Luton worked for the Agency in Alaska writing social and
subsistence sections of Environmental Impact Statements and Statements of Work for
socioeconomic studies. He has worked in Headquarters in the Environmental Studies Branch
and serves as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative.
PILTZ, FRED M.
Dr. Piltz is the Chief, Environmental Studies Section, Pacific OCS Region. He is
responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of the environmental studies
for the Pacific OCS Region. Prior to his current position, he worked in applied
environmental impact assessment research as both a taxonomic consultant and field
scientist in Southern California and in the Straits of Magellan, Chile. His research
experience includes laboratory work on the effects of heavy metals on marine organisms,
effects of oil spills on intertidal invertebrates, and effects of municipal sewage
outfalls on benthic invertebrate communities.
PRENTKI, DICK
Dr. Prentki is an Oceanographer in the Environmental Studies Section , Alaska OCS Region.
His responsibilities include developing and providing technical oversight for physical and
chemical oceanographic studies in the Alaska environmental studies portion of the MMS
Environmental Studies Program. Dr. Prentki has been with the Alaska OCS Region since 1981,
first in the Environmental Assessment Section and then in the Environmental Studies
Section.
ROGERS, CLAUDIA M.
Dr. Rogers is currently a Social Scientist with the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and a
Research Scientist/Scholar of the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Geography,
University of West Florida. She is responsible for the social and economic analyses
required under the National Environmental Policy Act for Proposed Mineral Extraction on
the OCS. She also develops Statements of Work for the Region’s studies program in the
social sciences, serves as a technical expert to the Regional Director, and as a
Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative. She has conducted field research in
settings as diverse as the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, middle class suburbs in Porto
Alegre, Brazil, and Jackson, Mississippi, fishing villages in New Orleans, Louisiana, and
Jamaica and Miami Beach, Florida. Research topics range from marijuana retailing, parental
participation in formal education, and the human costs of flooding to the Rastafarianism
and organizational change. Dr. Rogers holds a Ph.D. in applied anthropology from Columbia
University and M.A.s in anthropology and education, applied anthropology, and Latin
America studies. A native of Colorado, she received her B.A. in Political Science from
Colorado State University.
TURGEON, KEN
Dr. Turgeon is Chief Scientist for the MMS. He serves as Science Liaison to the Minerals
Management Advisory Board OCS Scientific Committee. His graduate training is in biological
oceanography and marine ecology. Prior to joining the MMS in 1988, Dr. Turgeon was
employed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where he served as a
marine ecologist, supervisory physical scientist, and program manager for the
environmental support services for the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Prior to
joining the federal government in 1980, he served as Academic Director for the Marine
Science Consortium at Wallops Island, Virginia.
WHITE, AMY C.
Ms. White is a Petroleum Engineer in the Engineering and Research Branch, for the MMS in
Herndon, Virginia. In this role, she serves as the Contracting Officer’s Technical
Representative on research activities for the Technology Assessment and Research program
which includes the Operations Safety and Engineering Research program and the Oil Spill
Response Research program. These programs identify and fund research activities with
universities, private firms, and government laboratories to assess safety-related
technologies associated with marine oil and natural gas exploration, development,
production, and transportation activities, and oil spill response technologies and
clean-up procedures. Ms. White is the head of the Risk Assessment and Human Factors
Research Team. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from West
Virginia University.
For more information, contact Julie Reynolds.
