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Reorganization and Regulatory
Reform
In response to the Deepwater Horizon
explosion and resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the
Obama Administration launched the most aggressive and
comprehensive reforms to offshore oil and gas regulation and
oversight in U.S. history. The reforms, which strengthen
requirements for everything from well design and workplace
safety to corporate accountability, are helping ensure that the
United States can safely and responsibly expand development of
its energy resources.
In selecting Michael R. Bromwich to lead the
newly-established Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)
in June 2010, President Barack Obama and Department of the
Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar issued a mandate: to reform
the government’s regulation of offshore energy development and
the agency responsible for it.
Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar and
Director Bromwich, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and
BOEMRE are making the fundamental changes necessary to restore
the American people’s confidence in the safety and environmental
protection of oil and gas drilling and production on the U.S.
Outer Continental Shelf, ensuring that responsible oil and gas
development continues.
Improving the Safety of Offshore Drilling
We have launched
aggressive, comprehensive reforms to offshore oil and gas
regulation and oversight:
Enhanced Drilling Safety
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Operators must demonstrate that they are prepared to deal with the potential for a blowout and worst-case discharge per
NTL-06.
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Permit applications for drilling projects must meet new standards for well-design, casing, and cementing, and be independently certified by a professional engineer per the new
Drilling Safety Rule. We are strengthening drilling standards in the exploration and development stages, for equipment, safety practices, environmental safeguards, and oversight.
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New guidance, through NTL-10, requires a corporate compliance statement and review of subsea blowout containment resources for deepwater drilling, a key lesson of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. |
Enhanced Workplace Safety
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We have imposed, for the first time, requirements that offshore operators maintain comprehensive safety and environmental programs. This includes performance-based standards for offshore drilling and production operations, including equipment, safety practices, environmental safeguards, and management oversight of operations and contractors. Companies will now have to develop and maintain a Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) per the new
Workplace Safety Rule. |
Ongoing Improvements to the
Offshore Regulator
The reorganization and internal reforms that BOEMRE is implementing are designed to remove the complex and sometimes conflicting missions of the former Minerals Management Service by clarifying and separating these missions across three agencies and providing each of the new agencies with clear areas of focus and new resources necessary to fulfill those missions:
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In his first
week, Director Bromwich established an
Investigations and Review Unit to root out problems
within the regulatory agency and target companies that aim
to game the system.
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The bureau has
implemented a new
recusal policy for BOEMRE employees to deal with
real and perceived conflicts of interest.
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Secretary Salazar and Director Bromwich launched a full review of the use of
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), categorical exclusions, during which they are not being used to approve proposed deepwater drilling projects.
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We have
launched an aggressive
re-organization program:
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The
bureau completed the transfer of the revenue
collection function on October 1, 2010.
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Initiated the forthcoming split of the offshore resource management and the safety and environmental enforcement roles into separate, independent organizations:
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As part of the
reorganization, BOEMRE has created multiple
Implementation Teams, tasked with analyzing various
aspects of bureau’s regulatory structure and helping to
implement the reform agenda.
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Teams
are considering the various recommendations for
improvement received from multiple investigations
and analyses including the Safety Oversight Board,
National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil
Spill and National Academy of Engineering.
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Director
Bromwich launched a
recruitment
campaign to expand the bureau’s field of inspectors and engineers – receiving more than 500 applications in two weeks. The bureau is working to expand and enhance its inspection program to ensure that operators are following all laws and regulations; planning to hire training professionals and developing programs to expand capacity. Director Bromwich also embarked on an
April 2011 recruitment campaign to expand our field of environmental scientists, with visits to more than 10 top universities across the country.
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Secretary
Salazar and Director Bromwich established the
Ocean
Energy Safety Advisory Committee, a permanent advisory body of the nation’s leading scientific, engineering, and technical experts who provide critical guidance on improving offshore drilling safety, well containment, and spill response. |
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