In April of 2010, a Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred which resulted in 11 rig workers killed and millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. Reforms were then called for and in place to put stricter controls on ocean drilling companies to prevent and stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. In June 2010, President Obama and the Department of the Interior issued a mandate to reform the government’s regulation of offshore energy development and the agency responsible for it. (https://www.boem.gov/about-boem/regulations-guidance/regulatory-reforms). After reorganization in the Minerals Management Service, three independent agencies were formed in 2011. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) were created to have different roles and missions to prevent oil spills and protect the ocean environment.

 

In 2016, the Obama administration implemented new rules governing offshore drilling. The new rules that were created by the Interior Department included requirements such as monitoring and inspection. The department is authorizing BOPs  devices that can seal off a well in case of emergency, and prevent an uncontrolled leak (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/15/474334543/obama-administration-issues-new-rules-for-off-shore-drilling). A statement from the Interior Department said the changes are designed to protect both workers’ lives and the environment. And the head of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says that the rules were based on existing best practices being used in the industry. Obama’s administration also recognized the climate change crisis and issued National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) climate change guidance. This act required agencies to consider the effects of climate change in their federal decision-making with projects that involve infrastructure, oil and gas leasing, and pipelines.

 

 

Now since Trump took office after President Obama, he has repealed this guidance which leaves the agencies with no arrangement on how to evaluate climate change impacts. Furthermore, the Trump administration has placed a plan in 2018 to expand offshore drilling off of the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic coasts. This plan would drastically increase the United States greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in major global consequences. According to CAP estimates, the Trump administration drilling plan would also lead to more than 10 times more large oil spills than the current plan. (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/10/23/475732/trumps-offshore-drilling-plan-environmental-disaster/)

 

Trump’s plan has been delayed and turned down by courts, coastal communities are concerned that the final decision that the administration has proposed would destroy and completely damage the health of the marine life and coastal environments.