Interior Department Creates Two Agencies to Oversee Offshore Drilling

"We are moving ahead quickly and responsibly to establish the strong, independent oversight of offshore oil and gas drilling that is needed to ensure that companies are operating safely and in compliance with the law."

January 21, 2011

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration announced a plan on Wednesday to create separate offices two new, independent agencies that will carry out the offshore energy management and enforcement functions once assigned to the former Minerals Management Service (MMS).

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Director Michael R. Bromwich announced that they are establishing a permanent advisory body where scientific, engineering and technical experts will provide input on improving offshore drilling safety, well containment and spill response.

Salazar has asked former Sandia National Laboratory Director Tom Hunter to lead the body, which will be called the Offshore Energy Safety Advisory Committee (Safety Committee).

"We are moving ahead quickly and responsibly to establish the strong, independent oversight of offshore oil and gas drilling that is needed to ensure that companies are operating safely and in compliance with the law," said Salazar. "[W]e will also bring together the top minds inside and outside government to help ensure that regulations, safety standards, and well containment capabilities never again fall behind drilling technology and practices."

Bromwich added: "The former MMS was saddled with the conflicting missions of promoting resource development, enforcing safety regulations and maximizing revenues from offshore operations...Those conflicts, combined with a chronic lack of resources, prevented the agency from fully meeting the challenges of overseeing industry operating in U.S. waters. The reorganization is designed to remove those conflicts by clarifying and separating missions across the three agencies and providing each of the new agencies with clear missions and new resources necessary to fulfill those missions."

For a fact sheet on the BSEE-BOEM separation, click here.

For the Secretary's speech, click here.

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