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WASHINGTON — The chief of the Interior Department’s land management bureau has stepped in to run the much-criticized agency that oversees offshore oil drilling.
Bob Abbey took over Friday as acting director of the Minerals Management Service and also will keep his post at the Bureau of Land Management.
He replaces Elizabeth Birnbaum, who left Thursday after 10 months as director of the mineral service.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Abbey has the experience necessary to reform the drilling agency and “help tackle this crisis in the gulf.”
Abbey, 58, of Nevada, has worked for more than 32 years at state and federal land agencies, including eight years as head of the BLM’s Nevada office. The Associated Press
