Reorganization
A complex series of events led to the creation of BSEE. Those events began in the 1940s, but the modern era of the U.S. Government’s history of regulating offshore energy and mineral industries dates to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. That event led many people inside and outside of government to believe that the time had come to reorganize regulatory authorities concerning worker safety, environmental protection, and resource conservation. As a result, 28 years of regulation of offshore energy by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) would soon come to an end.
On May 19, 2010, in the midst of the Deepwater Horizon-Macondo oil spill, then Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar signed a Secretarial Order dissolving and dividing the Minerals Management Service (MMS), creating from it three independent entities to carry out the three missions of 1) ensuring the balanced and responsible development of energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS); 2) ensuring safe and environmentally responsible exploration and production and enforcing applicable rules and regulations; and 3) ensuring a fair return to the taxpayer from offshore royalty and revenue collection and disbursement activities.
The MMS was renamed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to more accurately describe the scope of the organization's oversight. Michael R. Bromwich, was chosen to lead BOEMRE in June 2010. In July of 2010, an implementation plan was published by the Department of the Interior (DOI) that called for restructuring the department's offshore energy management responsibilities. A detailed transition, scheduled to take full effect October 1, 2011, was outlined in the DOI plan.
In the place of the former MMS – and to replace BOEMRE – the DOI plan created three independent and strengthened agencies with clearly defined roles and missions: the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONNR), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). ONRR is responsible for oversight of revenues collected from energy and mineral leases and other monies owed to the federal government for the use of public natural resources on the Outer Continental Shelf and onshore Federal and American Indian lands. BOEM is responsible for managing development of the nation's offshore resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. The functions within BOEM’s jurisdiction include leasing, plan administration, environmental studies, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis, resource evaluation, and economic and financial analysis.
In contrast to the ONRR and BOEM responsibilities, BSEE was created to oversee three corners of a focused and balanced pyramid: offshore worker safety, environmental stewardship, and resource conservation. BSEE’s workforce fulfill the Bureau’s mission by employing a spectrum of statutory authorities that are designed to reduce offshore risk and improve the ability of companies to respond effectively should an incident occur.
During its first five years of operation, BSEE implemented a phased in reorganization of its internal operations, with the final steps occurring in 2016. As a result, BSEE follows the standard federal model of setting policy at the national level while achieving implementation at the local, field level. BSEE is overseen by a Director and members of the Director’s senior leadership team. BSEE has six national-level chiefs, each of whom oversees the following divisions: Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs, Oil Spill Preparedness Division, Environmental Compliance Division, Safety and Incidents Investigations Division, Safety Enforcement Division, and the Office of Administration. Field implementation of BSEE’s policies takes place through three regional offices; one regulates both the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic activities, a second is responsible for the Pacific, and the third region oversees the federal offshore areas surrounding Alaska inclusive of U.S. Arctic waters.
Details of how BSEE implements its objectives, organizationally and operationally, can be found in BSEE’s strategic plan.