Deepwater Horizon: Agency Reorganization and Appropriations in Offshore Oil Regulation

Abstract

This Note discusses the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and raises potential constitutional challenges to the Secretary of the Interior’s ability to create the Minerals Management Service or to split it into three new agencies. The Note then discusses the funding of the Minerals Management Service through congressional appropriations and highlights the disadvantages of this funding approach, such as agency capture and inefficient agency reorganization. In light of this problem, the Note suggests that funding from industry may be a solution and describes how this funding scheme could help insulate the offshore drilling agencies from regulatory capture and eliminate needless agency reorganizations. Last, this Note presents a path forward for the Department of the Interior with respect to the structure of offshore drilling oversight agencies.