Internet and Email Interrupted at Minerals Management Service

 The Minerals Management Service will not be available via email or internet, until further notice.  Internet connections and email access have been interrupted due to a Temporary Restraining Order issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in connection with Cobell vs. Norton. 

 Systems processing financial and production reports through MMS contractors remain operational pending discussions with the Special Master in the case. The shutdown order was not based on any representation or direct action or inaction of MMS. 

 For the time being all contact with MMS must be made through telephone, fax, or mail.  You may call the MMS Office of Public Affairs at (202) 208-3985 or fax us at (202) 208-3918. 

 MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in federal offshore waters.  The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from federal and American Indian leases.  These revenues totaled over $6 billion in 2002 and nearly $127 billion since the agency was created in 1982.  Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.