WASHINGTON — Federal officials announced Friday they will merge two regulatory agencies that were divided following the catastrophic 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department stated the restructuring aims to boost efficiency and accelerate approval processes for offshore energy projects.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum explained that the newly formed Marine Minerals Administration will unite the responsibilities currently handled by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. According to Burgum, this consolidation will create a “streamlined approach” while preserving current regulatory safeguards and strict safety protocols.
“The combined agency will deliver clearer coordination, better service to the public and stronger, more integrated oversight of offshore energy development,” Burgum stated.
The agency’s title echoes the former Minerals Management Service, which served as the primary federal oversight body for offshore drilling operations for many years. In April 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon platform exploded in Gulf waters, resulting in 11 fatalities and releasing approximately 5 million barrels of oil into the ocean during a three-month period, marking America’s worst offshore environmental disaster.
Bipartisan criticism emerged against the agency for inadequate supervision and inappropriate relationships with energy companies. An inspector general investigation from 2008 revealed employees had accepted inappropriate gifts, directed contracts to preferred companies, and participated in substance abuse and intimate relationships with representatives from the very firms they were supposed to regulate.
The agency director stepped down in May 2010 following intense public scrutiny, prompting the Obama administration to implement tighter drilling oversight measures after the environmental catastrophe.
In 2011, the disbanded Minerals Management Service was replaced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Revenue collection duties were also transferred to a separate office. Obama administration officials said the restructuring eliminated the complicated and contradictory responsibilities of the original agency.
BOEM currently manages oil, gas, renewable energy and mineral development on federal offshore lands, while BSEE handles safety and environmental compliance.
Conservation organizations strongly criticized the reorganization as returning to the agency’s problematic history.
“The MMS was intentionally split up after the Gulf spill because regulators were too cozy with industry and we couldn’t trust the integrity of their work,” explained Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
She described the new structure as “yet another handout to the oil industry that will fast-track risky projects. It sure won’t make the people or wildlife on our coasts any safer.”
The National Ocean Industries Association, representing offshore energy companies, argued that having two separate but overlapping federal agencies managing offshore development creates confusion and delays.
“Bringing them back together should result in closer coordination and a more efficiently functioning government, for the benefit of American citizens who rely upon the energy produced from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf to fuel our economy and lift society,” stated Association President Erik Milito.
