Randall Luthi named to head MMS

Petroleum News

Randall Luthi, currently deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been named by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne as director of the Minerals Management Service.

Luthi is a former speaker and majority leader of the Wyoming House of Representatives and has worked at the Department of the Interior and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He is a rancher who has also worked as an attorney in private practice.

“Randall Luthi’s past experience, including as a leader in the Wyoming legislature, counselor at NOAA and attorney at Interior, make him well suited to head the MMS,” Kempthorne said July 23. “This experience, combined with his leadership skills, will enable the MMS to continue to substantially contribute to our goal of reducing America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy through safe and environmentally responsible offshore production while also ensuring that the American public receives a fair share of the value of resources extracted from our public lands and waters.”

Prior to being named deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February 2007, Luthi was a partner in the Luthi and Voyles law firm in Thayne, Wyo. He was first elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1995, and served as speaker in 2005 and 2006.

Luthi previously worked in the federal government as senior counselor for environmental regulations in NOAA’s Office of General Counsel from 1990-93 where he worked on natural resource damage issues and as an attorney in Interior’s Office of the Solicitor from 1986-90 where he provided legal advice on issues related to the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act and the Federal Power Act. He also served as Interior’s representative on the Exxon Oil Spill Legal Team.

He also was a legislative assistant in the office of U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming where he provided counsel on legal and legislative issues including oil and gas taxation.

Luthi graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1979 with a B.S. in administration of justice, and earned a J.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1982. He owns and operates a cattle ranch in Freedom, Wyo.