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The
NewsRoom
Release #: 3026
Date: February 2, 2004
President Requests $282.4 Million for FY 2005 MMS Budget
Budget increases for geologic interpretive tools,
online business services and an Indian trust fund initiative are
highlights of President Bush’s fiscal year 2005 budget request for the
Minerals Management Service.
“Improved ways for energy companies to interact online
with MMS can ultimately mean more energy that gets more quickly to
American businesses, farms and homes,” said MMS Director Johnnie
Burton. “Through development of a new, online delivery system called
OCS Connect, MMS is working diligently to improve its business
practices.”
A key funding increase of $1.9 million
will support digital geologic interpretive tools including a 3-D
visualization room, digital well log processing capability and
software training, ensuring that MMS maintains technological parity
with the private sector. This capability allows MMS to better
perform resource evaluations for fair value determinations, resource
conservation, and hazards assessments.
An Indian trust initiative of $941,000
will support additional work with tribal cooperative audit partners,
increase outreach to tribal partners in general and provide improved
safeguards for Indian records. An increase of $305,000 is
requested for the States Cooperative Audit program.
The total amount of the fiscal year 2005 budget request for the
Minerals Management Service is $282.4 million, which includes an
increase of about $12 million over the fiscal year 2004 enacted budget
of $270.5 million.
The proposed budget
includes $178.7 million in appropriations and $103.7 million in
offsetting collections from OCS rents and cost recovery fees,
reflecting respective increases of $8.4 million and $3.5 million over
the 2004 budget.
Priority projects in the President’s 2005
budget request also include the operation of minerals revenue
management and royalty-in-kind programs, methane hydrates studies,
information technology security and the ever-increasing demand for
Outer Continental Shelf energy delivery program services.
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 lands. Between 1982 and 2003, MMS
distributed over $135 billion in revenues from onshore and offshore
lands, an average of over $6 billion per year, to the Nation, States
and American Indians. Nearly $900 million from those revenues go into
the Land and Water Conservation Fund annually for the acquisition and
development of State and Federal park and recreation lands.
Relevant Web Sites
MMS Main Website
Media Contacts
Curtis Carey
(202) 208-3985
Caryl Fagot
(504) 736-2590
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior |