http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2010/press0621.htm
The NewsRoom
Release:
Date: June 21, 2010
 
WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today swore-in former Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich to lead reforms that will strengthen oversight and policing of offshore oil and gas development.

Bromwich will oversee the fundamental restructuring of the former Minerals Management Service, which was responsible for overseeing oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf.  A Secretarial Order that Salazar has signed renames the Minerals Management Service the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (“Bureau of Ocean Energy” or “BOE”) as it undergoes reorganization and reform.

“Michael Bromwich has a strong track record of reforming the way organizations work, both in the public and private sectors,” Salazar said. “He will be a key part of our team as we continue to change the way the Department of the Interior does business, help our nation transition to a clean energy future, and lead the reforms that will raise the bar for offshore oil and gas operations.”

“The BP oil spill has underscored the need for stronger oversight of offshore oil and gas operations, more tools and resources for aggressive enforcement, and a more effective structure for the agency that holds companies accountable,” said Bromwich.  “We will move quickly and responsibly on our reforms.”

The Secretarial Order renaming MMS as the Bureau of Ocean Energy is one of several organizational reforms that Bromwich will lead.  Bromwich is working with Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Wilma Lewis; Assistant Secretary for Policy; Management and Budget Rhea Suh; and Senior Advisor Chris Henderson on the implementation program for restructuring of the agency’s oil and gas management missions.

Bromwich served as Inspector General for the Department of Justice from 1994 to 1999 and oversaw numerous high-profile investigations including the misconduct in the FBI laboratory and the FBI’s involvement in the Aldrich Ames case.

He has also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1987 and as an associate counsel in the Office of the Independent Counsel during Iran-Contra investigation from 1987 to 1989.

As a partner with the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson since 1999, Bromwich has specialized in conducting internal investigations for private companies and other organizations; providing monitoring and oversight services in connection with public and private litigation and government enforcement actions; and representing institutions and individuals in white-collar criminal and regulatory matters.

Since May 28, Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey has been serving as Interim Acting Director of the Minerals Management Service.  Abbey will return to serving as full-time director of the BLM.

As a lawyer in private practice, Bromwich conducted many major internal investigations for companies, both publicly traded and privately held, in the energy, pharmaceuticals, public accounting, and private security industries, among others; reviewed the compliance programs and policies of major companies in a variety of industries, conducted extensive field reviews of such programs and made recommendations for their improvement; and represented companies and individuals in state and federal criminal investigations.

In 2002 the Department of Justice and the District of Columbia selected Bromwich to serve as the Independent Monitor for the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department, focusing on use of force, civil rights integrity, internal misconduct, and training issues.  He served in that position until 2008 when the department was determined to have achieved substantial compliance.

In 2007, Bromwich was selected by the City of Houston to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the Houston Police Department Crime Lab. The investigation identified serious problems in some of the crime lab’s operations, and Bromwich made recommendations for the lab’s improvement.

A 1976 graduate of Harvard, Bromwich received a JD from Harvard Law School and a Masters degree in public policy from the university’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Over the last several weeks, Secretary Salazar has continued his agenda to change how the Department of the Interior does business, including launching several reforms to the management and oversight of offshore energy operations.
Recent reforms include:

·    Moving to divide MMS’s three separate and conflicting missions into three separate entities – the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resource Revenue to improve the oversight of offshore energy development;

·    Issuing a directive to all oil and gas lessees and operators on the Outer Continental Shelf implementing stronger safety requirements that Salazar recommended in his 30-day safety report to the President;

·    Issuing a directive to all oil and gas lessees and operators on the Outer Continental Shelf strengthening blowout prevention requirements; and

·    Ordering a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the gulf to give the industry time to implement new safety requirements and to allow the Presidential Commission to complete its work on the Deepwater Horizon spill.

To view the Secretarial Order, click here.
_____________
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
WASHINGTON
ORDER NO. 3302

Subject: Change of the Name of the Minerals Management Service to the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Iv1anagemem, Regulation, and Enforcement

Sec. 1 Purpose. The purpose of this Order is to change the name of the Minerals Management

Service (MMS) to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement
(BOEMRE).

Sec. 2 Authority. This Order is issued under the authority of Section 2 of Reorganization Plan

No.3 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262). as amended.

Sec. 3 The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement
a. The Minerals Management Service shall hereafter be named the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement.

b. The BOEMRE shall be headed by a director and shall be under the supervision of the
Assistant Secretary-~Land and Minerals Management.

c. The BOEMRE shall exercise all authorities previously vested in the MMS.

Sec. 4 Implementation. The Assistant Secretary-Land and Minerals Management and the
Assistant Secretary-Policy. Management and Budget shall take all appropriate steps to
implement this Order including. but not limited to:

a. Changing all references of the MMS to BOEMRE in the Departmental Manual:

b. Promulgating a brief rule in the Federal Register changing all references of the MMS

to BOEMRE in the Department’s regulations: and
c. Notifying the Congress of the name change from the MMS to the BOEMRE.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/22/eveningnews/main6607960.shtml
June 22, 2010
CBS News Has Learned the Government Will Release Its First Report on Subsea Oil and the News Isn’t Good

By Sharyl Attkisson

(CBS)  Throughout the oil spill crisis there’s been concern about oil below the surface of the water.

The government is about to release its first extensive report on subsea oil, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

All along, this has been the BP company line:

“The oil is on the surface,” said BP CEO Tony Hayward on May 30.

Sources say the government report will leave little doubt subsea oil is a serious problem. The subsea oil is like a sneak attack hidden unseen beneath the surface where it can travel under the boom and reach the shore. Independent scientists have been trying to sound the alarm for weeks.

On June 8, University of Georgia marine sciences professor Samantha Joye said, “The plume is very zig-zaggy.”

Researchers tracked an underwater oil plume 15 miles wide and three miles long more than 1000 meters below the surface.

Still, CBS News is told the government’s report out soon won’t be a comprehensive picture of all the oil. It’s more like a sampling since only tiny slices of the Gulf have even been checked.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1065071/1/.html 

Posted: 23 June 2010 0909 hrs
WASHINGTON: US lawmakers Tuesday introduced a bill to reform the rules on offshore drilling as the massive oil spill continued to spread in the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill, introduced in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, would allow Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar to “improve the management, oversight, accountability, safety, and environmental protection.”

As previously announced by the White House, the bill also seeks to reorganise the controversial Minerals and Management Service (MMS) — singled out for lax oversight in the wake of the Gulf disaster — by splitting up its
responsibilities to supervise drilling and collecting revenue.

“This bill takes a number of important steps to ensure that the Outer Continental Shelf will be managed in a balanced, prudent and vigilant way, to ensure energy production, safety and protection of the environment,” said the committee’s Democratic chairman Jeff Bingaman.

“The bill should give Secretary Salazar the tools he is asking for to correct many of the deficiencies in the MMS, which have come to light since the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski.

A comprehensive shake-up of MMS continues amid scathing criticism of the agency for being too lax on enforcement of safety standards in offshore drilling and being too close with the companies it regulates.

The legislation’s introduction came on the day a US judge ruled against a six-month freeze imposed by the Obama administration on deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

In a blow to the White House, district judge Martin Feldman ruled in favor of 32 oil firms which challenged the moratorium, calling the decision “invalid” and saying a freeze would “clearly ripple throughout the economy in this region.”

After the Gulf of Mexico disaster at an offshore oil rig leased by BP that ruptured an undersea well, President Barack Obama’s administration announced a breakup of the agency’s leasing and regulatory functions into two separate entities.

Entering its ninth week, the oil spill disaster has, using the lowest US estimate, seen more than 90 million gallons spew into the Gulf of Mexico.
-AFP/jy

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/23/business/AP-US-Gulf-Oil-Spill-Containment-Cap.html?_r=2&hp

More Oil Gushing Into Gulf After Problem With Cap
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 23, 2010
Filed at 12:48 p.m. ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Coast Guard says BP has been forced to remove a cap that was containing some of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says an underwater robot bumped into the venting system. That sent gas rising through vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap.

Allen says the cap has been removed and crews are checking to see if crystals have formed before putting it back on. In the meantime, a different system is still burning oil on the surface.

Before the problem with the containment cap, it had collected about 700,000 gallons of oil in the previous 24 hours. Another 438,000 gallons was burned.
The current worst-case estimate of what’s spewing into the Gulf is about 2.5 million gallons a day.
______________________
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/23/AR2010062302595.html
Washington Post
Oil gushes into gulf following accident in containment effort

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 23, 2010; 1:48 PM

The gulf well is an uncapped geyser again after an accident forced officials Wednesday to remove the containment device that had been effectively capturing much of the gushing oil for weeks.

Separately, the response to the spill took a tragic turn when two people associated with the cleanup died in unrelated incidents, one a swimming pool accident and the other involving a person enlisted in the effort to skim oil, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen announced. He had no further information about the deaths, which he learned about just before his noon briefing.

Allen said the accident involving the containment operation was also under investigation, but he outlined the early theory of what happened. At 9:45 a.m. engineers aboard the drillship Discoverer Enterprise noticed gas rising through a water line that had been pumping hot water down to the seafloor to prevent methane hydrates from clogging the cap.

The appearance of gas created a hazardous situation on the ship, which has been rigidly connected to the well via a riser pipe and the containment cap. Engineers disengaged the cap and the riser. Scrutiny of the cap indicated that a vent had been inadvertently closed, possibly bumped by one of the many remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, that conduct the subsea operations, Allen said.

Officials are studying the cap to see if it is now clogged with methane hydrates. They hope to be able to recap the well, though Allen did not give any timetable for that. The cap had managed to capture 16,668 barrels (700,056 gallons) of oil Tuesday; 10,429 more barrels (438,018 gallons) were flared through a separate containment operation using a line that leads to a different vessel, the Q4000.

The total amount captured set a new record for the containment operation, but the Wednesday morning setback puts the future of the strategy in doubt.

Complicating matters is that hurricane season is kicking into full gear. Allen said up to a week of preparation would be necessary to disengage vessels in advance of a tropical storm. A tropical wave in the Caribbean is moving to the west, slowly, and has a 30 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The flaring operation continues, but the live video feed from the gulf shows a scene not witnessed for weeks: a plume of oil and gas surging from the sheared-off pipe atop the well’s blowout preventer. The overall flow has been estimated by the government at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels (1.47 million to 2.52 million gallons) a day.

This was not the first accident involving the ROVs, which are operated by technicians on surface ships. Weeks ago, an ROV bumped a pipe that was being used to siphon oil from the collapsed riser pipe and temporarily shut down that containment operation.

“I think the fact that we’ve had two bumps that have had consequences associated with them in the 60-plus days we’ve been doing the response, it’s a pretty good record,” Allen said.
______________________________
Below is the Coast Guard’s Press Release:
 
Suspension of Lower Marine Riser Package Containment Cap Operations
 
Deepwater Horizon Incident
Joint Information Center
 
NEW ORLEANS — This morning at approximately 8:45 a.m. CDT, a discharge of liquids was observed from a diverter valve on the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise,which is on station at the MC252 well-site. As a precautionary measure,the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap system, attached to the Discover Enterprise, has been moved off the Deepwater Horizon’s failed blow-out preventer to ensure the safety of operations and allow the unexpected release of liquids to be analyzed.
 
Capture of oil and gas through the LMRP cap is therefore temporarily suspended until such time that the cap can be re-installed. Capture of oil and gas through the BOP’s choke line to the Q4000 vessel on the surface continues.

Special thanks to Richard Charter.

Please find the following information regarding a  planned evacuation should there be a call for one in the Tampa Bay area.
 
 

 
 
http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d9-Gulf-Oil-Spill-2010-Plans-to-evacuate-Tampa-Bay-area-expected-to-be-announced
 
 
UPDATED: June 14, 2010
As FEMA and other government agencies prepare for what is now being called the worst oil spill disaster in  history, plans to evacuate the Tampa Bay area are in place.
The plans would be announed in the event of a controlled burn of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico, or if wind or other conditions are expected to take toxic fumes through Tampa Bay.
This practice has been used by the US Forestry service, when fire and smoke threaten the health and well being of people.
The elderly and those with respiratory problems would be more susceptible to health risks, in the event of a controlled burn.
Estimates of the rate of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill have varied. Independent scientists now suggest that the true spill rate, before the riser pipe was cut off in June, was between 20,000 and 50,000 barrels a day.
Since the April 20th explosion, which resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, there have been more than a million gallons of chemicals poured into the Gulf of Mexico in efforts to break up the spill. The chemicals have come under scrutiny  because of their own toxic nature.

It is not certain if the massive slick will have to be set on fire near Tampa Bay, but the possibility has not been ruled out.
BP has been using controlled burns as a way to contain the oil spill since the crisis began.  Plans to do additional controlled burns around the well site were announced by Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen at a briefing in early June.

Special thanks to Richard Charter