Inspection Protocols News

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) this week announced the implementation of a new Risk-Based Inspection Program that employs a systematic framework to identify facilities and operations that exhibit a high-risk profile. The risk-based inspections supplement BSEE’s existing National Safety Inspection Program. The OCS Lands Act authorizes BSEE to conduct annual scheduled inspections and periodic unannounced inspections of all oil and gas operations. The new risk-based inspection protocol looks beyond compliance and assesses the integrity of critical safety systems on facilities and operations, those that have had multiple incidents of noncompliance or events and may need more attention.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining steps the agencies will take to better coordinate efforts to prevent illegal discharges of pollutants from more than 61,000 commercial ships based in the U.S. and more than 8,000 foreign ships operating in U.S. waters. Today’s MOU creates a framework for improving EPA and USCG cooperation on data tracking, training, monitoring, verifying compliance, and industry outreach.