TRANSFORMING DEEP-SEA DRILLING

Abstract

A CORNERSTONE of U.S. energy policy—domestic offshore oil and natural gas drilling and production—is likely to be transformed with enactment of recommendations of the presidentially appointed National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling. Gone would be a system in which a small, underfunded, and poorly trained agency does double time—collecting industry-paid royalties while attempting to oversee industrial safety. In its place would be a new independent safety-only agency that uses risk-based regulations and more and better-trained inspectors to review and implement industry-developed, site-specific drilling management plans. Since last May, the seven-member oversight panel has held hearings, interviewed witnesses and experts, and traveled the Gulf of Mexico as it studied the April 20, 2010, BP oil rig accident that killed 11 workers and resulted in the worst offshore oil spill in history. The panel’s review grew to include industry operations and government regulation of o...