Chris Oynes, MMS Official, To Step Down In Wake Of Gulf Oil Spill

Chrys Oynes, the associate director of Offshore Energy and Minerals Management at the Minerals Management Service will retire May 31, reports The Washington Post:

Oynes, who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted to MMS associate director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management, has come under fire for being too close to the industry officials he regulated.

The Post reports that Oynes made the announcement Monday.

His move follows the April 20 explosion aboard the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill.

In the wake of the spill, Interior Secretary Ken Slazar announced plans to split MMS into two separate agencies: one that would oversee safety compliance and another that would oversee drilling leases and royalty collection.

Oynes was promoted to associate director despite his role in a "foul-up" at the MMS' regional office in New Orleans, reports The Times-Picayune:

During his tenure at the Gulf regional office in Louisiana for the MMS, Chris Oynes played a central role in an offshore leasing foul-up that cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion in lost revenue. The Interior Department's inspector general called the matter "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling." Despite that, the agency's then-director promoted Mr. Oynes in 2007 to associate director for the offshore program.

Oynes' MMS profile boasts more than 30 years of "Federal Government experience."

Comments

[hischagal]

12:35 PM on 05/19/2010

If the truth about MMS didn't come out, would he be stepping -down? No, I don't think so. He, along with all the others in the agency, were literally and figuratively caught with their pants down..

He, however, should have been fired along with every semployee in the agency. They are a despicable lot.

[truthmachine]

04:13 AM on 05/20/2010

"literally and figuratively"

You have no idea what that means, do you?

[Animal Compassion]

11:42 AM on 05/19/2010

This guy should be going to JAIL!!! Where is the justice? One set of rules for the government and another set of rules for those being governed.

[hischagal]

12:37 PM on 05/19/2010

They all should be going to prison as far as I'm concerned.

[droog007]

08:58 AM on 05/19/2010

Gas Leak 3000 Times Worse Than Oil
By innereye
5-18-10

There is 3000 times more natural gas coming out of the leak than oil. The damage of the massive amounts of Gas being released into the gulf is worse than the oil.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIX
WYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9FO07J00

Oxygen levels in some areas have dropped 30 percent, and should continue to drop, Joye said.
"It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas," Joye said. "We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact."



The Federal Minerals Management Service (MMS) contracted a study to see how badly a deep water drilling oil spill would deplete the gulf of oxygen. this study underestimated the current leak by a factor of 26. It was NOT peer reviewed and did not consider that the damage would occur at depth greater than 700 meters. In other words, the determination of the potential impact of deep water drilling on the ecosystem by the federal agency that regulates these activities was a TOTAL SHAM.

The Gulf oxygen depletion zone or "Dead Zone" has been documented by environmentalists over the last 20 years....
http://rense.com/general90/gasleak.htm

[Yurdelite51]

07:49 AM on 05/19/2010

White privilege in full display. There is no way anybody but a white person can get promoted under those circumstances. It happens in businesses all the time and I am sure it is rampant in the government as well. White privilege in full display.

[truthmachine]

04:15 AM on 05/20/2010

Racism (yours) in full display.

[Yurdelite51]

08:27 AM on 05/20/2010

What would you know? What is YOUR experience? White privilege as well? Those on the receiving end of white privilege usually deny any such thing exists. Truth hurts doesn't it?

[Chernynkaya]

05:18 PM on 05/18/2010

knowthefacts72 3 hours ago (2:35 PM)
"Chris Oynes was appointed by CLINTON."

_________________________________________

Hey, knowthefacts-- get your facts STRAIGHT! He was appointed in 2007. Who was the President then??

http://intoxination.net/category/blog-tags/chris-oynes

[Chernynkaya]

04:35 PM on 05/18/2010

Why does this piece of _excrement_ get to merely resign? It's bad enough that because of cronyism he was allowed to even stay employed, let alone promoted after New Orleans. I have seen this all too many times in my career--good ol' boys get recycled from one company or agency to another, no matter how incompetent. But Oink's deeds go past incompetence to criminality! He should not be allowed to resign. He should be prosecuted.

[cycle3man]

12:38 PM on 05/18/2010

You can keep robbing banks, but you are not a criminal until you are caught.

One is a great administrator of the Minerals Management Service until

a disaster that you failed to plan for takes place

then, you are an unmitigated incompetent!

So long HUMPY

[ultrabop]

09:25 AM on 05/18/2010

BUSH SLEEPER CELL MUTATES

[knowthefacts72]

02:33 PM on 05/18/2010

Chris Oynes was appointed by CLINTON...

[ultrabop]

04:39 PM on 05/18/2010

CLINTON SLEEPER CELL MUTATES

[Kalamama]

09:20 AM on 05/18/2010

Chris Oynes, and every single person that had anything to do with the safety regulation and/or giving this rig approval need to go to prison AFTER they are all made to spend time cleaning each and every bird, animal, fish, etc., that comes ashore.
They all need to be held accountable and jail to too cushy. Make them work hard and help clean this mess they helped create. Make them work all day, every day from sun up to sun down on their hands and knees.
Even that won't be enough.

[ultrabop]

09:25 AM on 05/18/2010

nice idea. fanned.

[BMcCue7]

10:35 AM on 05/18/2010

That never happens.

The "higher-ups" in our society are never punished in any kind of real way. Even if he WERE sent to prison, it would be one of those country club style prisons with all the amenities that a man of his class would expect.

[Elle1019]

08:55 AM on 05/18/2010

Heckuva job, Chris.

[MyHO]

08:48 AM on 05/18/2010

Oynes needs to be brought up on criminal and civil charges. The government should immediately move to freeze his assets until a determination is made for financial restitution. In exchange, he could turn government witness in the prosecution of many oil execs and their companies. And as the evidence suggests now, his retirement should be life in prison. Forcing him out is wholly insufficient.

Whatever your politics - our government is dysfunctional by design! Our elected officials created and they perpetuate this ineffective, inefficient and many times corrupt bureaucracy in order to serve the interests of their patrons, the wealthy elite and deflect responsibility for bringing this country and the world to its knees.

[Joe Mamma]

08:44 AM on 05/18/2010

Poor guy. Salazar is the one that needs to really go. River rafting. Nice.

[jazzman]

08:43 AM on 05/18/2010

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. All of the key staffers who worked in all of the agencies during the Bush years should be fired. Bush turned regulatory agencies into industry whorehouses where those meant to protect the public from corporate excess turned out protecting corporations from any regulation and oversight.

The Republicans made a mess of our government and now want to run on how bad Washington works. It's kind of like a man who abuses his wife complaining about all the bruises that keep showing up on her face and body.

[Kalamama]

09:22 AM on 05/18/2010

Marked as favorite.

[ultrabop]

09:40 AM on 05/18/2010

fanned

[DocSkull]

08:01 AM on 05/18/2010

If he isn't immensely guilty, he is doing a pretty good impression. However, lets not lose sight of the fact that he worked in a regulatory system that is designed to fail catastrophically while protecting the profits of corporations siphoning common resources through caps on liability. BP, other oil companies, and our own government are also at fault.

[SuperKK]

03:07 PM on 05/25/2010

The people on this blog have overlooked the obvious. Chris is obviously incompetent, from his prior record. He was promoted in 2007 precisely because of his incompetence. Bush wanted as weak a regulatory system as possible. One way to get it is to staff the management with complete incompetents whose only talent is loyalty. This was no mistake!

[bbrecht]

07:50 AM on 05/18/2010

good riddance to bad rubbish..... who is next? The entire agency needs scrubbed and Salazar should also step down, this happened under his watch. Criminal negligence....