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Posts Tagged ‘Contingency Plan’

Update: The BSEE shutdown contingency plan has now been posted

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Regulation, tagged , , , on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The plan looks good. It appears to be consistent with previous contingency plans. Offshore operations should not be impacted.

“During the shutdown BSEE will continue critical permitting, oversight, preparedness verification, and related activities that are necessary to protect workers and the environment from operations associated with conventional and renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf. Approximately 40% of the 851 BSEE employees will be retained to accomplish these activities and will be designated as exempt, as their salaries will be funded from non-lapsing prior year carryover. Should an extended shutdown occur, exhausting current funding sources, all the exempt personnel would be designated as excepted as they are essential for life and safety.”

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Federal Government shutdown and offshore oil and gas operations: The Department of the Interior’s Contingency Plan has yet to be posted

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Federal funding lapses, real or threatened, are rather common. They range from false alarms to the extended shutdown of 35 days that occurred in 2018-19. In no case have offshore oil and gas operations been significantly affected. BSEE and its predecessors developed and implemented contingency plans that identified “essential employees” needed to monitor operations and review necessary permits.

Most Federal agencies have posted updated Federal contingency plans on the OMB page established for the purpose. Noticeably absent is the plan for the Department of the Interior (DOI), which includes the bureaus responsible for overseeing energy operations on Federal onshore and offshore lands. Presumably this is just a bureaucratic delay, and DOI has plans for the safe continuation of operations. However, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming was sufficiently concerned that they wrote a letter to Secretary Haaland and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for oil and gas operations on Federal onshore lands. That letter is attached below.

Hopefully, DOI will provide clarity on these matters today, since a Federal government shutdown could begin at midnight tomorrow. Needless to say, any disruption in ongoing oil and gas production operations would have significant safety and economic implications.

paw-letter-to-doi-permits-in-shutdown-final-9.25.23Download

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