Chris Oynes

Chris Craig Oynes (28 April 1947 – 18 October 2017) was an American lawyer and federal government administrator.

Oynes was born in Anaheim, California to Christian and Lorraine Oynes.

Oynes served as U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) associate director for offshore energy and minerals management before he retired in May 2010. During the 1990s, Oynes served as Deputy Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region, and he was named Regional Director of that office in 1995. Oynes who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 13 years that cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion in lost revenue. Despite that, the agency's then-director, Johnnie Burton, promoted Oynes in 2007 to associate director for the offshore program. In 2008, a report from the Interior Department's Inspector-General found that MMS employees had received improper gifts from energy industry representatives. Another Inspector General report from 2010 found additional ethical lapses involving MMS employees and employees from oil and gas companies.

Lee Tilton, the former Chief, Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA), for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, was a former protégé of Chris Oynes.

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Oynes announced that he would retire at the end of May 2010. According to the Minerals Management website, Oynes had "...more than 30 years of Federal Government experience..."

Oynes died on 18 October 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.