Judge allows MMS to reopen web site

By OGJ Editors

WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 22 --The US Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service Mar. 22 said a federal judge has agreed to allow its external web-based and e-mail operations to resume.
The judge some months earlier had ordered those functions shut down in response to claims in a federal lawsuit that Interior's online security was lacking.
"Resuming operation of our core accounting systems will enable the MMS to receive and process mineral revenue reports and payments and conduct its full range of related financial services for mineral revenue recipients and other program beneficiaries," said new MMS Director Johnnie Burton. "We're back in business."
Oil companies will be able to submit royalty and production reports to MMS via the agency contractor Peregrine Corp.. MMS is expected to collect $4.2 billion in revenues next year from minerals (mostly oil and gas) produced from offshore and onshore federal and Indian lands, according to the House Committee on Resources.
Last December the MMS website was included in the judge's order to shut down public access to most internet web sites and e-mail run by Interior. US District Judge Royce C. Lambert ordered the shutdown in response to an Indian trust dispute in which the plaintiffs argued Interior web site security was lacking. Indian groups say the web site could be easily breached and could exacerbate a pattern in which they claim Interior over many years had mishandled billions of dollars in royalty trust funds (OGJ, Jan.14, 2002, p. 33).
In the interim, Interior has been working to improve cyber security. The judge allowed the US Geological Survey and National Park Service back online earlier this year.