BSEE hosts oil spill response workshop

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has hosted a workshop with a joint industry task force to discuss advances in oil spill research, the agency said Dec. 9. The workshop provided an opportunity for industry leaders to meet with BSEE’s Oil Spill Preparedness Division to review developments in oil spill preparedness and response, including techniques such as the in situ burning of oil, the use of oil dispersants and the remote sensing of spilled oil. Other topics included shoreline protection and cleanup; spill mitigation analysis; new response planning calculators; and planning for an international oil spill conference being held next year.

BSEE is responsible for the federal oversight of oil industry safety and regulatory compliance on the U.S. outer continental shelf. Industry participants were representatives from the American Petroleum Institute’s Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Joint Industry Task Force, a task force formed after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to address the oil industry’s capability to deal with a major oil spill.

BSEE said that both API and BSEE have committed significant resources to oil spill research since 2010, thus enabling technical advances across all aspects of oil spill response.

“Both BSEE and the offshore industry share responsibilities to be good stewards of the environment,” commented David Moore, chief of BSEE’s Oil Spill Preparedness Division, in anticipation of the workshop. “The exchange of research findings and perspectives during the workshop will help us meet that responsibility by leading to improved techniques to remove oil from the marine environment.”

- ALAN BAILEY