U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Public Affairs

Media Advisory

Federal Indian Minerals Office gets Acting Director and New Auditor

DENVER, Colo. – The Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced Monday that Jim Stockbridge has been named acting Director of the Federal Indian Minerals Office (FIMO) in Farmington, New Mexico, effective October 1, 2003. 

Stockbridge, a 26-year employee of the Department of Interior with extensive experience in American Indian affairs, will serve a 120-day appointment as director until the position can be filled on a permanent basis.  

  MMS also announced the selection of Lucille Leuppe-Esplain as a new auditor at FIMO, effective October 6, 2003.  Ms. Leuppe-Esplain, who holds a Master of Business Administration degree, began her federal career as an accountant with the Department of Interior, Office of the Special Trustee.  Prior to her federal service, she worked for the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) in Farmington, serving as Acting Chief, Financial Officer/Controller.  She is fluent in the Navajo language. 

The Federal Indian Minerals Office in Farmington is a service-oriented office established to serve American Indian and Navajo constituents in the areas of outreach, inspection, enforcement and mineral revenue compliance services.  As Acting Director, Stockbridge will oversee the work of employees from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and MMS.

 Stockbridge is currently the Budget Officer for the Minerals Revenue Management division of MMS in Denver.  Prior to joining MMS, he served with the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1977 to 1988, working on reservations in Minnesota and northern California and gaining extensive experience working with American Indian Tribes and individual Indian allottees.

 MMS is the Department of Interior agency that manages the nation’s oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in federal offshore waters.  MMS also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and American Indian lands. Those revenues totaled more than $6 billion in 2002 and more than $127 billion since MMS was created in 1982. 

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov