Susan Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum served as Director of the Minerals Management Service

Minerals Management Service

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement , formerly known as the Minerals Management Service , was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf...

 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."

Early career and education

From 1987 to 1991 Birnbaum was counsel for the Water Resources Program of the National Wildlife Federation, where she litigated on behalf of that organization in federal courts. 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. 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 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.
In that role, she testified regularly to Congress regarding river conservation issues
.

Before her appointment to the Minerals Management Service, Birnbaum 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.

Birnbaum received her Juris Doctor from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1984 and her A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 in 1979. She was Editor in Chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review, Volume 8.

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.

Resignation

On May 27, 2010, Birnbaum resigned her position. She resigned "on her own terms and on her own volition," according to Ken Salazar

Ken Salazar

Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S...

, the United States Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

. The resignation came during the controversial Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...

 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.

Volunteer Work

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.