by Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON—The U.S. agency that regulates offshore
drilling was broken up into three separate agencies Wednesday as part of a move
to end cozy industry relationships exposed by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster,
officials said.
The shake-up
came a day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers the Minerals
Management Service, which issued lucrative offshore exploration leases and was
also responsible for enforcing safety rules, needed to be cleaned up.
The MMS was
severely criticized for being lax on safety after explosions sent a BP-leased
offshore oil rig to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing a catastrophic
oil spill.
President Barack
Obama ordered “top to bottom” reform of the agency after it was
accused of allowing BP and other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without
first obtaining required permits.
Salazar broke
MMS into three separate agencies, each independent of the other and handling
one of the three missions once handled by the agency.
The first of the
three new agencies, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, will be responsible
for developing offshore energy resources, both renewable and conventional, and
will be in charge of leasing activities.
The new Bureau
of Safety and Environmental Enforcement will be responsible for safety and
environmental protection in offshore energy activities, and will have the
authority to levy penalties on violators.
The third new
agency, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, will collect and distribute
revenues generated by activities including oil and gas exploration, coal
mining, and renewable energy resources.
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