Just three weeks after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, creating a massive oil spill, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on May 11 announced a major shake-up of the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates offshore drilling.
The reorganization plans calls for the agency’s inspection, investigation, and enforcement operations to be separated from its leasing, revenue collection, and permitting functions to form an independent agency. In addition, Interior is asking Congress to eliminate the 30-day deadline for MMS to act on exploration plans that the oil and gas industry submitted. Interior wants the congressionally mandated deadline lengthened to 90 days, with the possibility for extension to complete environmental and safety reviews as needed.
Salazar said he wants to create a “firewall” between regulations and revenues that would give the department more tools, more resources, more independence, and greater authority to enforcement laws and other requirements.
“We will be moving significant resources into the new office,” Salazar said. The new organization will have at least 300 people, he said, but noted the agency’s top priority right now is coping with the catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
“How exactly we ultimately do it is something we will work on in the days ahead. These reorganizations are never easy,” Salazar said. “What I don’t want to do in this reorganization is have MMS employees take their eyes off the ball.”
Parts of the reorganization can be done administratively, but the fate of some of the plans will be left to Congress, where similar proposals to restructure the agency have stalled in recent years.
However, the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill have wakened many in government to the inherent risk in offshore drilling, and some members of Congress have questioned whether the MMS has been “too cozy” with the oil and gas industry.
US Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla), whose state may be threatened by the oil spill, commented, “There is a sorry record – a record of an incestuous relationship [between the agency and the industry].” He added, “MMS needs to clearly be cleaned up.”
The American Petroleum Institute responded with a statement emphasizing that both “safe offshore operations” and a “strong offshore leasing program” are “vitally important to producing the oil and natural gas American consumers need.”
The Obama administration is seeking $29 million in additional funds for Interior to carry out inspections, enhance enforcement, conduct studies and other spill-response activities. The requested funds and regulatory changes will be included in oil-spill-response legislation that administration officials intend to submit soon to Congress.
The funding request includes $20 million for more inspections of offshore platforms, engineering studies, and the enforcement of safety regulations; $7 million for more comprehensive evaluations of policies and procedures in the wake of the ongoing spill, and $2 million for general environmental studies by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U,.S,. Geological Survey.
The administration also has asked the National Academy of Engineering to conduct an independent technical investigation to determine the root causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. It will complement an ongoing joint investigation the Coast Guard and MMS are conducting, Salazar said.