Offshore Energy Awakening?
When you wake up after a long nap (in this case 25 years), you don’t just leap out of bed. You first squint at the light, yawn, flex an arm, stretch your legs, and prepare to rise and actually do something. The President’s decision to open a small slice of the Atlantic to exploration and consider new areas in the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf of Mexico in the new 5- Year Program may seem modest, but it demonstrates that the nation is waking up to the importance of our offshore energy resources. After 25 years of neglect, almost everyone agrees that US energy policy has been an economic and national security disaster. More and more Americans are also recognizing that denying access to offshore resources is not in the best interest of the environment – regionally, nationally, and globally.
Some political leaders remain in dreamland as evidenced by the large blue areas in the map below. When you have cried “wolf” about offshore drilling for your entire political career, you either believe what you have been preaching or are concerned about the political implications of changing your position. However, demonizing offshore energy development is no longer a smart political strategy, and the views of these anti-energy stalwarts may finally be challenged, even in their own states and districts.
We operations, safety, pollution prevention, and regulatory professionals have to hold up our end. Safety disasters or pollution spectaculars are not acceptable. We need to examine our programs, operations, and incidents openly and honestly, and anticipate what might go wrong. When an accident occurs, we need to learn what happened and why, and make sure it doesn’t happen again – anywhere in the world.
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Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 