If You Can’t Beat’em, Join’em – The Coast Guard’s “Us Too” Regulatory Approach to Addressing Its Overlapping Jurisdiction with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)
In the wake of the Macondo disaster, regulation of the offshore industry on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has undergone profound change, both in terms of the agencies who regulate and the substantive regulations. Almost immediately after the April 20, 2012 blowout of the Macondo well, President Obama dissolved the former Mineral Management Services (MMS, a sub-bureau within the Department of the Interior, which was wracked with internal problems and corruption) and formed a new agency (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) that ultimately became two related agencies: (1) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which handles lease sales and permitting of OCS wells; and (2) BSEE, which handles regulation with regard to safety and operational requirements for activities on the OCS. While this overhaul of the former MMS was dramatic and comprehensive, it did not affect the traditional, historic jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) over vessels and certain aspects of other OCS facilities. (more…)
