OMNI-MAX Anchor
Pasted below is a note from Evan Zimmerman that I am posting with his approval. As many of you know, MODU station-keeping has historically been a major problem during hurricanes. For the past 5 years, industry and government leaders have worked hard to improve hurricane and deepwater mooring capabilities. Evan has been a key participant in this effort. His company developed advanced anchors (see above picture) and mooring lines, and new risk assessment tools for assessing mooring system failure probabilities and their consequences. The Gulf of Mexico will not be a safer place if deepwater technology leaders like Delmar are forced to close or move their equipment and personnel overseas.
The moratorium on drilling has put more than 70% of all that risk reducing mooring equipment on its way to the beach without contracts. For a company like Delmar that derives more than 95% of its income from deepwater OCS drilling activity, its clear that we will have to immediately start shipping equipment outside of the US to find work. Its my expert opinion that without a doubt, the offshore station keeping safety options will be reduced once drilling activities resume. Its also clear the longer the moratorium continues, the fewer moored rigs will be left to drill not only the intermediate water depth areas the DP rigs cannot, but also the ultra deepwater wells they have been so busy drilling safely. The longer this moratorium continues, the higher the station keeping risks for both DP and moored rigs the MMS will have to approve to keep the few rigs left in the Gulf working. It’s the single biggest disappointment in my career to see all the hard work that MMS, Delmar and industry have done to increase station keeping safety quickly slip between our fingers here domestically. I leave overseas again week after next to try to secure work for half (two sets) of OMNI-Max anchors as well as most of our other risk reducing equipment that now is no longer on contract due to the moratorium.
We are the last US owned deepwater anchor handling company that has brought the safest and most technically advantageous equipment to the mooring industry, and it looks like we will have to drastically change inclusive of cutting jobs domestically and moving outside of the US.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
….and don’t forget to mention that MMS did a terrific job MANDATING that moorings be improved. Indeed they announced after the rigs broke away in the hurricane that they would simply NOT APPROVE any rigs that did not UPGRADE their mooring systems to an acceptable return period.
MMS did a great job in ensuring that standards were raised far beyond what had been acceptable around the world before – so that rigs were safer in the Gulf of Mexico.
They insisted on increasing the level of scrutiny and denied permits from those high risk operations in the hurricane peak season for jackups.
The folks I know at the MMS do a GREAT job policing the offshore industry while allowing production to keep our economy going. Its a balance.
Nothing the MMS did or failed to do caused this catastrophe. I suspect, depending of course on what the cause ends up being, that no other regulatory requirements from any other regime would have prevented this.