S. Elizabeth Birnbaum

S. Elizabeth Birnbaum
Director of US Department of Interior's Mineral Management Service
In office July 15, 2009 – May 27, 2010
Preceded by	Walter Cruickshank
Succeeded by	Michael R. Bromwich

Susan Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum served as Director of the Minerals Management Service in the United States between July 2009 and May 2010. Birnbaum was in charge of administering "programs that ensure the effective management of renewable energy [...] and traditional energy and mineral resources on the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf, including the environmentally safe exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the collection and distribution of revenues for minerals developed on federal and American Indian lands."

Career

Early career and education

Birnbaum has been an officer and member of numerous boards and commissions, including the National Capital Section of the American Water Resources Association; Arlington County Environment and Energy Conservation Commission, and the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section of the District of Columbia Bar.

Birnbaum received her Juris Doctor from Harvard University in 1984 and her A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University in 1979. She was Editor in Chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review, Volume 8.

DOI and Minerals Management Services

As MMS Director, Birnbaum administered programs that ensure the effective management of renewable energy, such as wind, wave, ocean current energy, and traditional energy and mineral resources on the nation's Outer Continental Shelf, including the environmentally safe exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. Before her appointment, she was staff director for the Committee on House Administration, where she oversaw strategy development, budget management and staff activities for the committee that manages legislative branch agencies. From 2001-2007, she was Vice President for Government Affairs and General Counsel for American Rivers, where she directed advocacy programs for the nation's leading river conservation organization.

At the Department of the Interior, Birnbaum was Associate Solicitor for Mineral Resources from 2000 to 2001, supervising and managing a staff of attorneys that provided legal advice, developed regulations and conducted litigation on minerals issues for the Minerals Management Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation. In addition, she was a special assistant to the Interior Solicitor, from 1999 to 2000, overseeing legal policy on a range of natural resource issues, including mining law, public land management and hydropower licensing. From 1991 to 1999 she was counsel to the House Committee on Natural Resources, where she handled legislative and oversight activities for the Department of the Interior, U.S. Forest Service, and electric power marketing administrations. From 1987 to 1991 she was counsel for the Water Resources Program of the National Wildlife Federation.

Resignation

On May 27, 2010, Birnbaum resigned her position. She resigned "on her own terms and on her own volition," according to Ken Salazar, the United States Secretary of the Interior. The resignation came during the controversial Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Salazar's subsequent announcement that the Minerals Management Service would be reorganized. She was replaced by Michael Bromwich, a litigation attorney and former federal prosecutor with a history of overseeing troubled federal agencies.