A group of high-flying academic, industry and government types
met in Washington on Monday for the latest attempt by US
offshore drilling regulators to reform deepwater operations with
the goal of preventing another disaster on the scale of the
runaway Macondo well.
The 15-member Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee said it would develop recommendations to make offshore drilling safer for workers and the environment. They broke off into four teams studying accident prevention, blowout containment, oil-spill clean-up and risk management systems.
The 15-member Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee said it would develop recommendations to make offshore drilling safer for workers and the environment. They broke off into four teams studying accident prevention, blowout containment, oil-spill clean-up and risk management systems.
Chairman Tom Hunter, former director of the Sandia National
Labs, wants to put out something by the end of the year and wrap
up the panel's work in no longer than a year and a half.
Congress and presidents have made countless issues irrelevant by shipping them off to commissions. What's different this time?
Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, said Hunter is, for starters.
"One of the great things about Tom is that he's very impatient, and I'm very impatient," Bromwich said Monday. "We're going to ask for things as soon as the commission can move forward and produce things."
Bromwich said the attention the panel will bring to offshore drilling safety will give its recommendations teeth.
"One of the great contributions this group can make is to keep these issues front and center in a public forum," he said. "We'll continue to meet periodically in public. We'll provide new recommendations periodically. That's what will keep things front and center and will be the equivalent of teeth because we will get what the committee is focusing on -- and what it believes needs to be done to enhance safety -- out therein the public domain."
A look at the members:
Industry
Academia
Government
Read their full bios here (PDF link)
Congress and presidents have made countless issues irrelevant by shipping them off to commissions. What's different this time?
Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, said Hunter is, for starters.
"One of the great things about Tom is that he's very impatient, and I'm very impatient," Bromwich said Monday. "We're going to ask for things as soon as the commission can move forward and produce things."
Bromwich said the attention the panel will bring to offshore drilling safety will give its recommendations teeth.
"One of the great contributions this group can make is to keep these issues front and center in a public forum," he said. "We'll continue to meet periodically in public. We'll provide new recommendations periodically. That's what will keep things front and center and will be the equivalent of teeth because we will get what the committee is focusing on -- and what it believes needs to be done to enhance safety -- out therein the public domain."
A look at the members:
Industry
- Charlie Williams, Shell's chief scientist for well engineering
- Paul Siegele, president of Chevron's Energy Technology Company
- Don Jacobsen, Noble Drilling Services' senior vice president
- Joseph Gebara, a Technip USA senior manager
Academia
- Richard Sears, chief scientist for the national oil spill commission
- Tad Patzek, chairman of the petroleum engineering department at the University of Texas at Austin
- Nancy Leveson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of system safety and process safety
- Lois Epstein, director of The Wilderness Society's Arctic program
Government
- Walter Cruickshank, BOEM's deputy director
- Christopher Smith, Department of Energy's deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas
- Captain Patrick Little, commanding officer of the US Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center
- Mathy Stanislaus, Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response
- David Westerholm, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration
- Steve Hickman, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey
Read their full bios here (PDF link)
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