U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

News Release

Oynes Awarded Rank of Meritorious Service

The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service is pleased to announce that Mr. Chris C. Oynes, Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, has been awarded the Rank of Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service by the President of the United States.  This prestigious award is granted for sustained exceptional contributions by career members of the Senior Executive Service and was presented to Mr. Oynes by MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman at the recent OCS Policy Committee meeting held in Panama City.

In making the presentation, the Director noted that, during his 23-year career, Mr. Oynes has continued to serve the Government with dedication, distinction, and loyalty and has unfailingly exhibited the highest level of professional integrity.  He has contributed significantly to improving the efficiency of MMS programs by developing new procedures and analytical techniques.  Through his strong leadership, MMS has been recognized for excellence in environmental decisionmaking.

Mr. Oynes is a native of Anaheim, California, and received his bachelor’s in political science from California State University at Fullerton, and holds a Juris Doctor Degree from George Washington University.  He began his Federal career in 1975 with the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.  He has served as the Regional Director of MMS’s Gulf of Mexico OCS Office, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the past four years and resides in Mandeville, Louisiana.  As Regional Director, Mr. Oynes is responsible for OCS activities in the Federal waters off the 14 Atlantic Coast States, as well as the 5 Gulf of Mexico Coastal States.

The MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation’s oil and gas and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for and last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from Federal offshore leases and Federal and Indian onshore mineral leases.

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