Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said three new agencies would divide the duties of the Minerals Management Service. He said subordinates were given 30 days to work out a schedule for the split. About 700 of the agency's 1,700 employees would be shifted to the new Office of Natural Resources Revenue, which would collect royalties from energy projects on federal land and the ocean floor. About another 700 employees would go to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which would oversee the leasing of parcels of the ocean floor for oil or gas rigs, and renewable energy projects like wind farms. And 300 employees would go to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
WASHINTON POST