Opposing view: ‘Our changes will never reduce safety’
Contrary to recent misleading reports, neither the Department of the Interior nor our agency, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, is weakening offshore safety or environmental rules. As a Louisiana native, and my state’s interim lieutenant governor at the time of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, I fully understand the importance of worker safety and environmental protection.
Our agency is working hard to fulfill executive orders, which require an extensive review of our regulations. Our commonsense approach is to propose revisions that could reduce burdens on operators without impacting safety and environmental protections. Our changes will never reduce safety and will, in some cases, improve it.
Our agency enforces dozens of regulations, but we are currently seeking public input on changes to one: the Production Safety Systems Rule. Enacted in late 2016, this regulation is not related to the Deepwater Horizon incident. The changes we propose are common sense: reducing unnecessary notifications, clarifying when operators must provide documentation, and specifying that safety and pollution prevention equipment that meets required industry standards have achieved thirdparty verification. We propose to codify
17 updated standards so they bear the force of law as another sign of our commitment to safety. We are examining other rules, but have not reached the public-comment phase.
We have no plans to alter two significant rules enacted following Deepwater Horizon, the Drilling Safety Rule and the Safety and Environmental Management Systems Rule. We are also strengthening our inspection program by implementing risk-based processes that focus our efforts on potential safety problems.
I am confident that the bureau will be able to achieve the goal of integrating a risk-based inspection protocol in
2018. Through these efforts, and many others, we are moving forward toward meeting the administration’s goal of achieving energy dominance without sacrificing safety.
Scott Angelle is director of the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.