Interior Department Plans to Recombine Offshore Agencies Split After Deepwater Horizon Disaster

WASHINGTON, DC — The Department of the Interior announced plans to merge the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) into a single entity called the Marine Minerals Administration. The two agencies were created separately in 2011 on the recommendation of an independent commission that investigated the Deepwater Horizon disaster and found that housing offshore leasing and safety regulation under one roof created dangerous conflicts of interest. 

Following is a reaction from Taryn Kiekow Heimer, director of ocean energy at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“This dangerous decision is going to weaken protection for oil workers, for coastal communities, and for marine life. It prioritizes oil industry profits at all of our expense.”

“The structural separation of BOEM and BSEE was a hard-won lesson of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. As the post-spill commission made clear, you cannot prioritize both industry profits and public safety within the same office without creating a dangerous conflict of interest. To dissolve that barrier is to invite a return to serious ethics issues and regulatory capture that defined the first failed Minerals Management Service. With the administration already gutting critical protections like the Well Control Rule and bypassing the Endangered Species Act, moving to dismantle BSEE’s independent oversight is a reckless gamble with our oceans and our coastal communities. 

“Moreover, this combination under the title ‘Marine Minerals’ ignores BOEM and BSEE’s responsibilities outside of minerals, including to advance responsible offshore wind development--further enshrining the administration’s short-sighted efforts to block offshore wind projects.”

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).