U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ELECTS LEADERSHIP

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Scientific Committee of the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Advisory Board has elected a new Chair and Vice Chair. They are:

* Chair: Joanna Endter-Wada, Ph.D. Endter-Wada is an anthropologist, and an Assistant Professor with the Department of Forest Resources, and Director, Natural Resources and Environmental Policy Analysis Program, College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

* Vice Chair: James Coleman, Ph.D. Coleman is Executive Vice Chancellor at Louisiana State University, and Boyd Professor in the University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences.

Comprised of 15 members appointed by the Secretary for 2-year terms, the Committee advises the Director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the Secretary on the feasibility, appropriateness and scientific value of MMS's Environmental Studies Program. Other components of the Minerals Management Advisory Board are the OCS Policy Committee and the Royalty Policy Committee. Endter-Wada and Coleman were appointed to the OCS Scientific Committee on October 1, 1993 by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.

"Members are appointed on the basis of their reputation and competence within their field of expertise and serve without compensation," said MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman. "They perform a real public service, and the collective wisdom, counsel and experience they provide to MMS is a tremendous asset."

MMS is the federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects, accounts for, and distributes about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

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