FOR RELEASE:  March 28, 1995                 CONTACT:  Tom DeRocco
                                                    (202) 208-3983


              MMS REPORTS STATUS OF STREAMLINING REGULATIONS


     The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS)
today published a Federal Register notice that provides the status
of MMS's 1994 review of regulations.

     The review was done as part of the bureau's reinvention effort
to examine rules and regulations to ensure they are effective,
impose the least possible burden upon the public, and are tailored
no broader than necessary to meet the objectives of the programs
being implemented.   

     "Last March, MMS asked its customers--the energy industry, the
states, the environmental community, and other interested
parties--to tell us how we could improve our services," said MMS
Director Cynthia Quarterman.  "In reviewing those comments and
revising regulations, we've encouraged maximum participation by the
people who are subject to them.  We believe our customers should be
partners in decisions which could affect them.  By implementing a
multi-constituent team approach, we know we can accomplish much in
resolving offshore and royalty issues," she added.

     Quarterman noted that MMS received 40 comments to the March
1994 notice.  Comments pertaining to the offshore program addressed
suspension of production; directional surveys; penalties and
assessments; underwater inspections; platform design; subsea well
testing; and structure abandonments and site clearance.  

     Comments pertaining to the royalty program addressed takes vs.
entitlements; payor responsibility; credit
adjustments/administrative offsets; audits; streamlining the
appeals process; reporting; and expediting the regulatory process. 

     As examples of specific improvements made by MMS, Quarterman
cited:

  --   Formation of Federal and Indian Gas Valuation committees
       engaged in negotiated rulemaking efforts to reflect the
       marketplace, and to simplify royalty valuation, reporting,
       and payment;

  --   Use of electronic data interchange for the minerals
       industry, other federal agencies, and some state agencies
       to exchange royalty data with MMS;

  --   Use of alternative dispute resolution to streamline the
       appeals process;

  --   Formation of study groups to evaluate deepwater
       operational requirements and safety pollution prevention
       equipment; and

  --   Use of negotiated rulemaking to evaluate safety and
       pollution prevention equipment.

  "Publication of today's notice reflects MMS's commitment to keep
our customers informed, to continue to involve interested parties
in the decisionmaking process, and to empower more and regulate
less," said Quarterman.

  The notice invites further comments, due to MMS by April 27,
1995.  Comments should be sent to the Department of the Interior,
Minerals Management Service, Mail Stop 4013, 1849 C Street NW,
Washington DC 20240, Attn:  Hugh Hilliard, Deputy Associate
Director, Policy and Management Improvement.

  MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation's natural gas,
oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and
collects and disburses revenues from offshore federal mineral
leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

                                   -MMS-