The evolving sentiment as the president's oil spill commission heard testimony on Aug. 25 in Washington was that offshore oil and gas activities require more frequent and effective government inspections.
Several witnesses observed that accomplishing this won't be easy. Former US Minerals Management Service Director S. Elizabeth Birnbaum offered some specific reasons why.
She started with the allegedly cozy relationships between federal inspectors and the managers and crews of offshore rigs and platforms. The fact that close relationships are likely because these people often grow up in the same communities together and get their technical training at the same universities is an untold story from a report Mary L. Kendall, the US Department of the Interior's acting inspector general, released in May following after office investigated charges that MMS employees in Louisiana behaved improperly, Birnbaum said.
An MMS worker's apparent negotiation to get a job at one of the companies whose rigs he inspected was clearly unacceptable, she said. But, she added, inspectors, even if they're hired from outside the industry, and company employees have to live in the same communities and might develop similar attitudes.
To proposals that the federal government require that an offshore inspector be present at all times, Birnbaum noted that this would require having the inspector stay onboard for days on end "which would bring him even closer to the crew members."
Possible steps
She recommended that the government start penalizing companies as well as individuals for inappropriate gifts, which would require legislation. It also should track inspectors' records closely for possible irregularities.
Birnbaum said soon after she became MMS director in July 2009, she realized that the agency had never comprehensively reviewed operating questions which emerged as oil and gas activities moved into deeper water.
She also noted that the gap between inspectors' salaries and those of employees of companies whose facilities they inspect needs to be narrowed, especially on the Gulf Coast.
That applies to operating expertise as well, she added. "You can still insist that inspectors be professional engineers, but they'd still need to have substantial on-the-job training because the work is so technical," Birnbaum said.
Another witness, Thomas R. Kitsos, who was deputy and acting MMS director from 1998 to 2001, pointed out that a US House committee suggested in 1976 that if federal offshore leasing was to expand, it would be in the government's interest to know what was out there first.
Kitsos said the idea was quickly voted down after Rep. Pete DuPont (R-Del.) said on the House floor: "If you like the post office, you'll love government oil."
More Oil & Gas Journal Current Issue Articles
More Oil & Gas Journal Archives Issue Articles
View Oil and Gas Articles on PennEnergy.com
