About Bud

Elmer Peter Danenberger III (Bud) is from Southampton, PA, and attended George C. Shelmire Elementary School and William Tennent High School. He earned a B.S. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and a Masters degree in Environmental Pollution Control, both from Pennsylvania State University.

Bud was employed as an engineer in the Department of the Interior’s offshore oil and gas program for 38 years serving as a staff engineer in the Gulf of Mexico regional office; Chief of the Technical Advisory Section at the headquarters office of the U.S. Geological Survey; District Supervisor for Minerals Management Service (MMS) field offices in Santa Maria, California, and Hyannis, Massachusetts; and as Chief of the Engineering and Operations Division at MMS headquarters. Prior to his retirement in January 2010, he served as Chief of Offshore Regulatory Programs with responsibilities for safety and pollution-prevention research, engineering support, operating regulations, and inspection and enforcement programs.

Since retiring from DOI, Bud has worked as a consultant specializing in offshore safety, pollution prevention, and regulatory policy. Clients have included the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, major and independent oil companies, Federal and State agencies, contractors, an environmental organization, and law firms. He was pleased to have assisted the legal team that represented Bob Kaluza, a BP Well Site leader on the Deepwater Horizon, who was fully and rightfully acquitted of all charges. Bud also served two terms on the Marine Board of the National Academies and was a member of the NASEM panel that authored the report entitled Strengthening the Safety Culture of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry.

Among other awards, Bud is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award – the Department of Interior’s highest honor award, and the US Coast Guard’s Meritorious Public Service Award. On October 10, 2009, he was inducted in the Offshore Energy Center Hall of Fame as a Technology Pioneer, and in 2015 he received the Offshore Technology Conference’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

Bud met his wife Karen, a Cape Cod artist and art teacher, while overseeing Georges Bank exploratory drilling. Their daughter Kristin was born in Santa Maria, CA, and is a graduate of James Madison University. She now lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and four children.

Preaching to the Choir