Five Years On, BSEE Accomplishments Are Many

Five years ago, on October 1, 2011, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement was established as a separate entity within the U.S. Department of the Interior. In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy, there was widespread sentiment that the functions of safety, environmental protection, and resource conservation should reside in a bureau solely dedicated to those duties. Thus BSEE was born.

When I became director of BSEE, slightly more than three years ago, I was immediately impressed by the degree to which our employees were dedicated to the bureau’s mission. From inspectors and investigators to employees in human resources and accounting, my sense was that everyone had a laser-like focus on successfully carrying out their responsibilities. Yet, like the staff, I knew we had a lot of hard work to do if we were going to fulfill the mandates that were laid out in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. Some major strides had been made, but we also needed to finalize important rules, increase the size of our workforce, promote cultural changes within industry, and create an administrative structure that was both streamlined and functional for those on the front lines.

This year we completed a major milestone with the publication of the Well Control Rule. This finalized set of regulations was called for by the Deepwater Horizon Commission and other studies that were produced following the Macondo well blowout. Other significant rules have also been published, each of which has a direct bearing on offshore safety and environmental protection. These include the recently finalized Arctic Drilling Rule and the Production Safety Systems Rule. Taken together, all the rules BSEE has finalized in the past five years raise the baseline for safety. However, BSEE believes that we must look beyond just the finalization of regulations for the next major step in increased safety. We are equally committed to helping the offshore industry develop a safety culture; one that exceeds regulatory minimums. Development of that culture was the driver behind the finalization of SEMS II (the second phase of BSEE’s Safety and Environmental Systems requirement for offshore industry). SEMS II, and all the other safety culture initiatives BSEE promotes, have a goal; the full development of a mature offshore safety culture. Ultimately, the American public expects a mature safety culture to be in evidence for the offshore industry, and BSEE sees its development as perhaps our most important mandate.

BSEE was created with a lot of fanfare. Press conferences were held, newspapers reported on the event, and stakeholders of all manner took note. Then the lights faded, and BSEE’s staff turned to the day-to-day reality of fulfilling the agency mission to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. Of equal importance, BSEE modernized the bureau’s rules to better reflect changes in offshore technology and the application of best available and safest technology.

I think it’s fair to say that in the 1,830 days between 1 October 2011 and today, not one was wasted. BSEE’s inspectors have tirelessly worked to help strengthen safety on the Outer Continental Shelf. BSEE’s Safety and Incident Investigations Division has left no corners unchecked as it delved into the causes behind serious incidents. Our Oil Spill Preparedness Division has conducted research that will make future oil spills less harmful to the environment. We have increased the visibility of environmental stewardship as a central focus of our agency. We have modernized rules to provide flexibility so that regulatory oversight keeps pace with technological changes. Our efforts to promote an offshore safety culture-where safety is truly the first priority-are finally beginning to take root. And we have developed internal strategies and an organizational structure that better allow us to achieve all the aforementioned items.

In the weeks after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, as the Macondo well continued to spill thousands of barrels of oil daily into the Gulf of Mexico, the outlook was bleak. We had lost 11 hard-working Americans and many others were still recovering from their injuries. No one knew how much environmental damage would result and what the economic impact might be. But out of all that chaos came the creation of BSEE. Some believed that, over time, the risk of future catastrophes could be reduced if a regulatory agency like BSEE was created and properly supported. We have tried to live up to the hope that surrounded our creation in 2011 by always putting the safety of workers, protection of the environment, and conservation of resources ahead of any other pressures that might be brought to bear. We have tried to make the hope people placed in us practicable. I believe, five years into our mission, we have largely succeeded.

Our work is far from done, and really will never be completed. When I interact with my staff at BSEE, I see resolve in their eyes. Their dedication inspires me. I see in them good reason to hope for a safer, and more environmentally secure, future. And that makes this anniversary one worth noting.