FOR RELEASE:  December 14, 1993              CONTACT: John Barclay
                                                  (202) 208-3983

MMS NAMES SEVEN NEW MEMBERS TO OCS SCIENCE PANEL (#30059)

     The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
(MMS) today announced the appointment of seven new distinguished
scientists to its Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Advisory Board's
Scientific Committee.

     The committee provides advice to MMS on its OCS Environmental
Studies Program.  Members review the data produced by the program
and can recommend changes in its scope, direction or emphasis.

     New members include:

*    Dr. Mary G. Altalo, deputy director for Scientific Affairs,
     Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California;

*    Dr. Biliana Cicin-Sain, professor at the Graduate College of
     Marine Studies, Department of Political Science, and co-
     director of the Center for the Study of Marine Policy,
     University of Delaware;

*    Dr. James M. Coleman, executive vice chancellor of Louisiana
     State University and Boyd professor in the University's
     Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences;

*    Dr. Joanna Endter-Wada, anthropologist and assistant professor
     of the Department of Forest Resources and director of the
     Natural Resources and Environmental Policy Analysis Program at
     Utah State University;

*    Dr. Lee Huskey, professor of Economics at the University of
     Alaska-Anchorage;

*    Dr. William Merrell, vice chancellor for Research Policy,
     professor of Oceanography and professor of Marine Sciences at
     Texas A&M University; and

*    Dr. James O'Reilly, a scientist with extensive experience in
     environmental programs, currently working with Exxon Company
     in that firm's Natural Resource Damage Assessment effort in
     Prince William Sound, Alaska.

     Other members of the committee include Drs. Larry P. Atkinson,
Thomas Bright, Scott Farrow, D. Michael Fry, Steve H. Murdock,
Jerry M. Neff, Thomas C. Royer and Richard W. Sternberg.

     The new members "...bring added expertise to this already
distinguished group of scholars and scientists," said MMS Director
Tom Fry.  With the new members, the advisory board numbers 15.  The
panel covers a wide range of scientific specialties and provides
valuable scientific guidance to MMS administrators for managing the
OCS oil, natural gas and mineral programs, Fry said.
                              -MMS-
Subject: PR-12/14/93 OCS Science Panel/MMS Names Seven New Members
to OCS Science Panel (#30059)