Tuesday, August 24, 2010 How the Minerals Management Service’s partnership with industry led to failure

By Juliet Eilperin and Scott Higham routinely referred to the companies ington paid close attention to MMS and under their watch as “clients,” the hard-to-understand world it was Washington Post Staff Writers “customers” and especially “partners.” charged with regulating. When they did, As the relationship became more it was often to pressure the agency to in- Two weeks after BP’s Macondo well intertwined, regulatory intensity crease the money it earned from leases blew out in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal subsided. MMS officials waivedit sold and the production that followed. government’s Minerals Management hundreds of environmental reviews Over its 28-year history, MMS grew to Service finalized a regulation intended and did not aggressively pursue become one the government’s largest to control the undersea pressures that companies for equipment failures. revenue collectors, after the Internal threaten deepwater drilling operations. They also participated in studies Revenue Service. MMS did not write the rule. As it financed and dominated by industry, As oil and gas companies took had dozens of times before, the agency more as collaborator than regulator. their drilling operations into deeper adopted language provided by the oil In the face of industry opposition, and riskier waters, MMS had to rely industry’s trade group, the American MMS abandoned proposals that would on its corporate partners’ expertise. Petroleum Institute, and incorporated have increased costs but might have Along the way were warning signs of it into the Federal Register. improved safety. the partnership’s imbalance, but the MMS received two favorable public The story of how a little-known fed- industry’s track record of no major comments about the regulation: one from the Offshore Operators eral agency became an extension of accidents provided a comfort level that Committee, an industry group, and the industry it oversaw spans three de- proved deceptive. the other from BP. The regulation cades and four presidents. It began in Industry innovation, as it often stated: “BP, a large oil and gas company, 1982 with a major expressed the importance of this rule change in the way and how they have been involved with the nation man- MMS and industry to develop the aged its natural industry standard.” resources, picked The fact that BP - which has come under up pace with ini- withering criticism for how it managed tiatives to stream- mounting pressure in the Macondo well line bureaucracy - took partial credit for crafting the rule in the Clinton and is not surprising. MMS has adopted at George W. Bush least 78 industry-generated standards as administrations, federal regulations, American Petroleum and ended after Institute records show. the April 20 BP MMS’s acquiescence stemmed from blowout with the the unusual relationship it had cultivated Obama adminis- with industry. Directed by law to “meet the tration’s abrupt de- nation’s energy needs,” the agency pursued cision to undo the that mission by declaring itself publicly partnership. In this image made from video released by British Petroleum, a saw slices into the blowout preventer to prepare for a capping device to seal and formally as industry’s partner. Few in positions off the oil gusher at BP's Macondo well. Top officials and front-line workers of power in Wash- does, had outrun and overpowered the D. Bettenberg carried out many of or the Georges Bank. government’s regulatory prowess, with Watt’s orders. He recalls that the agency Leasing new tracts to oil and gas disastrous results. They were partners, was created on the fly. companies was MMS’s primary objective. but they were not equals. Bettenberg left his office in Reston one Many agency employees spent their days Friday afternoon and returned Monday determining which offshore areas would On the fly to learn that Watt was giving MMS be most productive, and then auctioning oversight of drilling operations in the those swaths to the highest bidders. James G. Watt, the man who created Outer Continental Shelf, a responsibility Now, lawmakers were saying they had MMS, came to Washington in 1982 that had rested within another Interior as much of a right to draw the map for with a mission: to alter the way the Department division, the Bureau of Land drilling as MMS officials did. government managed its natural Management. A co-worker found a copy Watt backed away from leasing off the resources. Coming off the hostage crisis of Watt’s draft order on a Xerox machine and coasts, but in oil-rich Iran and gas shortages on the and relayed the news to Bettenberg in a he moved to lease nearby areas, tracts home front, he vowed to “mine more” phone call. and “drill more.” As he set up the agency, Nearly three decades later, the Bettenberg turned to industry lawyer known for his sharp mind and for guidance. “Sometimes we oversized glasses says in an interview applied industry standards,” from his home in Jackson Hole, Wyo., he says. “Many of the that he “wouldn’t change one decision.” standards are good.” As Ronald Reagan’s first interior Bettenberg, who retired in secretary, Watt wasted little time pursuing 2005 after a 41-year career, his vision. The environment, he believed, wonders whether the agency contained valuable resources that should could have done more to be exploited for the good of the nation, regulate deep-sea drilling. particularly at a time of tense relations “This recent spill has with the Soviet Union and continuing prompted me to conclude I instability in the Middle East. didn’t ask enough questions,” “The Reagan administration was he says. “I suspect people didn’t for everything,” Watt says. “We wanted keep up with technology.” nuclear, we wanted solar, we wanted James G. Watt, former Secy. of the Interior and the creator of the MMS. (Curtesy of the Univerity of Wyoming). conservation, we wanted wind, we Expansion wanted coal. We were just doing everything we could to re-arm America, In the face of Watt’s push for more that were even closer to shore. Congress dig us out of a huge financial mess. That drilling, the Democratic-controlled responded with further restrictions, required energy at every level.” Congress resisted. the beginning of what would become a For years, the U.S. Geological Survey Rep. Les AuCoin, an outspoken drilling moratorium for certain regions. had handled the task of collecting Oregon Democrat, had a vision of what The one exception: most of the Gulf royalties from companies, based on the an oil spill off California could mean for of Mexico. amount of oil and gas they extracted his state. After major storms, he said, After Watt resigned in September from federal land and offshore reserves. dead cows would wash up on Oregon’s 1983, lawmakers expanded the But allegations of fraud had left the beaches, plucked from Northern moratorium. From 1982 to 1992, the program in a shambles. A panel California coast. Oil from a blown-out territory declared off-limits grew from appointed to examine the problems well, he reasoned, would be no different. 700,000 acres off the California coast recommended that a new agency take When Watt suggested opening up to more than 266 million acres off the over those duties as its main mission. the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Pacific and Atlantic coasts, Alaska’s Watt went one step further. The and Georges Bank off Massachusetts to Bering Sea and the gulf’s eastern portion. Minerals Management Service he drilling in 1981, AuCoin and Republican Again, the rest of the gulf remained created in 1982 would not only lease Rep. Silvio O. Conte of Massachusetts open. tracts for exploration and collect the used their posts on the powerful House Lawmakers who opposed drilling government’s share of oil and gas Appropriations Committee to block found an ally in George H.W. Bush. revenue, it would regulate the industry, him. They put language in a funding During his 1988 presidential bid, he too. That built-in conflict would bill mandating that no money could said offshore areas needed protection hamstring the agency for decades. be used to lease exploratory tracts in “until technology moves forward.” As an early director of MMS, William central and Northern California waters In his first year as president, he canceled a slew of lease sales by put Vice President Al Gore in charge of Worried that leases were declining executive order and established a marine the initiative, which sought to slash the as opportunities in shallow water sanctuary in California’s Monterey Bay. federal workforce, reduce regulation dwindled, Louisiana Democrat J. The government also bought back leases and form “partnerships” between Bennett Johnston used his senior for tracts off South Florida. The result: Washington and industry. Profound position on the Senate Energy and More offshore auctions were canceled changes would take place at MMS: It was Natural Resources Committee to seek than held between 1987 and 1992. ordered to do a better job of collecting royalty relief for companies willing to The gulf remained the primary place royalties, while losing nearly 10 percent explore deeper water. for deepwater ventures, becoming what of its staff during the next five years. “Offshore drilling had always been environmentalists such as Peter Galvin Reinvention also became the very key to our [state’s] economy, and of the Center for Biological Diversity agency’s mantra. In October 1993, an the overall oil production,” he now called a “national sacrifice area.” Today, Interior panel issued findings aimed at says. “I thought we ought to make a it is home to 99 percent of the nation’s future drilling policies. Titled “Moving way to make it easier to drill in deeper offshore oil production. Of 911 new Beyond Conflict to Consensus,” it water. Because if you’re not going to wells in the past two years, all but 13 represented a paradigm shift. get them to drill, that’s money you’re were drilled in the gulf. Chaired by an oil drilling company not going to get.” executive, the panel urged a reversal The Deep Water Royalty Relief Act, Reinvention of restrictions championed during written by Johnston and passed in 1995, the previous decade by George H.W. exempted companies that drilled on Since the BP blowout, Bruce Babbitt Bush and many members of Congress. certain leases from paying royalties. “It has been reevaluating what took place It recommended that Interior lift the was not like these were a bunch of oilies during his tenure as ’s moratoriums; share revenue with getting together and deciding, ‘How interior secretary, and how the nation’s states whose water would be opened can we rip off the government?’ “ says oil and gas policy went awry despite his up for leasing; and create incentives to Johnston, who left Congress in 1997 best intentions. spur exploration, such as royalty relief and is now an American Petroleum He belongs to an exclusive club, one for industry. The panel called large Institute lobbyist. “These were serious of four interior secretaries to serve for spills in the gulf “improbable,” citing policymakers figuring out how to eight years. In that position, he focused relatively low reservoir pressure that benefit the nation.” much of his time on preserving the required companies to retrieve the oil With the moratoriums in force, country’s wild spaces. Babbitt paid less and gas through “artificial lifting” in the Gulf of Mexico became a more attention to MMS. 90 percent of the wells. important place to drill. The move Sitting in the sleek Dupont Circle Today, Babbitt says he sees how into deeper water did not, however, headquarters of the Environmental policymakers came to focus more prompt a discussion about greater Defense Fund, where he now serves on revenue than on risks. “This kind oversight. “It was not a big focus of as an adviser, Babbitt describes how a of partnership stuff, in a way, is an the Congress,” Johnston says. “There relentless drive to reduce the federal inevitable part of a system in which wasn’t any whistle-blower saying, bureaucracy in the 1990s solidified you are producing the second-largest ‘They’re being unsafe.’ “ the partnership between Washington amount of revenue for the U.S. At the end of the Clinton and the offshore industry. The Interior government,” he says. administration, MMS itself issued a Department began to emphasize It turned out that MMS was warning. In a little-noticed budget “performance-based regulation” on the not capable of navigating its dual document, the agency reported in assumption that industry was better relationship as regulator and industry 2000 that the burgeoning number of positioned than the government to partner, he says. deepwater wells had made overseeing determine what practices worked. It took time for him to see the operations in the gulf more complex. “That is a mistake for which I inherent conflict. “The full realization The number of companies working shoulder part of the blame,” he says. “It of that came, frankly, after I left office, there had grown by 30 percent and was not a good decision. My belief, with when I had a chance to think in a more many employees were new. considerable hindsight, is there is no abstract way, when I had a chance to MMS cautioned: “The offshore place for performance-based regulation sort this out. It’s not an easy sort.” industry significantly downsized in because of the high risk.” the 1980s. . . . The presence of workers Political forces were pushing the Going deep without offshore experience is placing department to scale back on regulatory an added burden on the inspection and dictates. Clinton was seeking to Echoes of the Interior Department compliance program.” “reinvent” the government - and by panel’s recommendations were If the agency was waving a red flag, extension, agencies such as MMS. He being heard in the halls of Congress. few saw it. Acceleration 2005, of BP’s Thunder Horse oil platform equipment relies on a brute-force in the gulf, then the largest in the world. component known as a blind-shear After the Clinton administration Accompanied by MMS Director ram to sever and crimp the pipes of a set the table for the partnership, the Johnnie Burton, Norton declared on runaway well. These hydraulic-powered George W. Bush administration let the the trip - underwritten by BP, according rams are the last line of defense against industry run it. to government records - that the rig was the pressure rising from deepwater On Jan. 29, 2001, nine days after “created to protect the blue waters that reservoirs, which had proved greater taking office, Bush signed an executive it stands in, no matter how great the than the members of the 1993 Interior order creating the National Energy storm.” With the rig looming behind panel had stated. Policy Development Group. Within her, she said, “Many people have an One study suggested requiring a weeks, Vice President Richard B. image of offshore oil production that second blind-shear ram for backup, but Cheney, as chairman of the task force, is frozen in time. Thunder Horse is in 2003, the agency decided against that. began holding closed-door meetings a dramatic embodiment of how far Another report questioned whether with industry officials. technology has progressed.” remotely operated underwater vehicles Executives from BP, Exxon-Mobil, could generate enough pressure to Conoco, Shell and other companies met cut the pipes. The agency did little to with the vice president and his team. address the concern. Jim Ford, then director of the American Norton declined an interview Petroleum Institute, sent the panel request, saying she had testified about an e-mail on March 20 outlining the her tenure last month before Congress. industry’s legislative and policy wishes. In 2005, finalizing a policy from He called for limiting regulations, the end of the Clinton era, MMS told reducing the backlog of drilling companies that they did not have to permits, and making it easier for energy provide detailed blowout and response companies to access oil and gas leases. scenarios for each exploration plan. In its report on May 16, the task The agency said the plans were “purely force said that drilling in the Outer speculative or generic.” MMS officials Continental Shelf had an “impressive did request modest budget increases for environmental record” and that state regulation. But greater oversight was not and federal regulations were interfering a priority, as David Abraham at the Office with exploration and production. The of Management and Budget discovered. panel urged Bush to direct Interior Abraham served as OMB’s examiner Secretary Gale A. Norton to “consider for offshore programs from 2003 to economic incentives” for oil and 2005. When he asked MMS officials George W. Bush’s Interior Secretary Gale A. gas firms and reduce the amount of Norton. (Curtesy of Lucas Jackson/Reuters). about their plans for keeping up royalties they had to pay. with expanded drilling, he said they Soon after, Bush signed two executive Less than five months later, the routinely gave the same answer. orders that tracked many points in 13-story structure nearly capsized, the “They said, ‘Our processes work,’ “ Ford’s e-mail and adopted many of the result of equipment failures during recalls Abraham, now a fellow at the Cheney panel’s recommendations. Hurricane Dennis. The mishap delayed Council on Foreign Relations. “I said, ‘It’s Norton, and her deputy, J. Steven the start of production until 2008. like an airplane - everyone always says Griles, embraced the task force’s During Norton’s tenure, the the wheels will come down, but what endorsement of more drilling. A Griles department adopted regulations aimed happens when they don’t?’ They should memo to the White House’s Council at spurring deepwater drilling in the have had people who could say, ‘This is on Environmental Quality on Aug. 22, western and central Gulf of Mexico. A what we do when the wheels don’t come 2001, said Interior was “fully committed 2002 rule allowed oil and gas firms to down.’ What they said is, ‘Don’t worry. to playing a role in this effort” and had apply for additional royalty relief; two Our regulatory regime works. “ a “special interest and expertise” in years later, another rule reduced royalty Abraham recalls: “They were being expanding production. payments for companies drilling for gas pushed by Congress, and they were in deeper water. being pushed by the White House- ‘Gung ho’ At the time, MMS began receiving ‘Let’s go into this area, let’s go into that reports that raised concerns about area,’ Nobody asked: Did they have the Norton’s enthusiasm for industry’s underwater blowout preventers, which technology” to handle this? desire to go into deeper water was on serve as the primary device for cutting The pressure to increase production display at the dedication on Feb. 26, off the flow of oil in an accident. The came from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, says Lynn Scarlett, who critical because they saved companies relationships with them. was Norton’s assistant secretary for time and money. Essentially, the allegations suggested policy, management and budget and The Interior Department soon made that the partnership in Lakewood had then deputy secretary under Norton’s it clear that offshore drilling could gone beyond consensus. It had crossed successor, . qualify for these exemptions. In a letter into something closer to corruption. Those in favor of more drilling, she dated Nov. 20, 1980, firms operating in Witness statements from the says, were saying “ ‘let’s go ‘gung ho’ on the central and western gulf were told IG’s inquiry, as well as previously deepwater. Lots of countries are doing that they would not have to provide unpublished e-mails, provide a more it. There wasn’t a parallel focus at the “complete” environmental assessments complete portrait of MMS’s mindset. same time of, ‘If we do this, let’s have in some instances. Employees said it was part of their job a commensurate effort on regulations MMS officials later widened the to “partner” with industry. Accepting for safety.’ “ exemption, seeking in part to avoid free trips, meals and gifts was their Looking back, Scarlett sees the duplicate environmental assessments “way of doing business.” Some said problem not so much as one of of similar areas. For years, the agency’s MMS employees should be exempted complacency but whether MMS “fully regional director, Gulf Coast governors from certain ethics laws because of the focused on the new challenges with or the head of the National Oceanic and agency’s unique role. deepwater.” She wonders: “Was there Atmospheric Administration could ask Industry officials used similar a failure of imagination of what could for studies. The Bush administration language in their interviews. A Shell happen given the new conditions?” modified the rule in 2005, limiting such oilman called MMS employees Scarlett says that question never requests to the MMS regional director. “working interest partners.” Another reached her desk. Under Clinton, categorical exclusions Shell representative said he saw the “It just didn’t come up,” she says. “I granted in the central and western gulf royalty-in-kind division as “just another honestly didn’t really think about it. I rose from three in 1997 to 795 in 2000. oil exploration company.” He provided wish I had.” During the Bush administration, MMS gifts for “relationship-building.” granted an average of 650 categorical Some industry officials built Easing the way exclusions a year in the region. relationships that extended beyond the The number of categorical exclusions office. One MMS employee told the Interior officials during the Clinton dipped to 220 during the Obama agents that she had sex with two oilmen and George W. Bush years also eased the administration’s first year. One went to who worked with the program. When IG way for more drilling by relaxing one of BP’s Macondo well. agents asked whether she had sex with the most significant safeguards - and Last week, Interior officials announced other industry officials, she asked if they obstacles - the agency could impose: an a temporary halt on categorical exclusions had any e-mails to refresh her memory. environmental impact statement under and vowed a tighter review before “I did date people,” she told them. the National Environmental Policy Act, granting waivers in the future. One Shell official e-mailed two which became law in 1970. female MMS employees to invite them The legislation, enacted after a Union ‘Working partners’ to stay with him during a retreat in Oil blowout that spilled 80,000 to 100,000 Keystone, Colo., a resort town in the barrels of oil into the Santa Barbara In July 2006, someone with Rockies. “Don’t worry about bringing Channel, remains one of the nation’s knowledge of MMS’s inner workings a thing except yourselves,” he wrote. toughest environmental laws. Beloved contacted Interior’s inspector general “Nobody will say a thing about you by activists and loathed by industry, it with troubling allegations about the being here for the night. As far as I’m requires an analysis of how regulated agency’s office in Lakewood, Colo., concerned, you were in a hotel.” activities might affect the environment. which managed the royalty-in-kind One of the women replied: “You are In the case of oil and gas drilling program. Under the program, MMS sooo wonderful. You know how much I in the gulf, regulators became received a portion of the oil and gas totally adore you. I just want to see my increasingly willing to give its industry collected by companies and sold it on the best buddies for a few days and unwind partners exemptions. market. Industry officials preferred the in the hot tub.” The trend took root in 1978, program because it meant less red tape The investigators provided the basis when the White House’s Council on and avoided time-consuming audits. for several criminal cases involving Environmental Quality informed The informant said MMS employees federal contracting rules and conflict- agencies that they could make were accepting free ski trips, football of-interest laws, resulting in two “categorical exclusions” from the law tickets and other gifts from oil and guilty pleas. Another MMS official as long as the proposed activity did not gas firms. Some partied with industry resigned amid allegations that he had have “a significant effect on the human officials and, in a few cases, female worked for a private engineering firm environment.” These waivers were MMS employees engaged in sexual and had marketed the company to government clients. in Lake Charles, La., which handles American Petroleum Institute. There The once-obscure agency hadinspections in the gulf, showed that the was logic behind this: The industry had acquired an unwanted prominence Lakewood problems were not isolated. the know-how and the resources to when the report became public in The IG agents found that Lake keep abreast of changing technology. September 2008. Barely a week after Charles employees had taken industry- MMS also participated in studies by the Obama administration took office paid hunting and fishing trips. Two outside consultants, some underwritten in January 2009, the new Interior MMS officials and their families had by industry. A recent study by West secretary, , burst into the traveled to Atlanta on a corporate jet to Engineering Services in examined White House press room. watch Louisiana State University play in the reliability of blowout preventers. MMS, he announced, would be one the Peach Bowl. Thirteen employees had Among the central questions: Could of his first targets. used government computers to receive the blind-shear rams be tested less often He then flew to to address or forward pornographic images or links without compromising safety? agency employees about the Lakewood to pornographic Web sites. An MMS These tests require downtime findings. Wearing his trademarkinspector had written four evaluations of about eight hours, which means Western cowboy hat and bolo tie, he of an offshore drilling company while $300,000 in lost production and wages delivered his message with two symbols negotiating for a job with the firm. - more if complications arise. West of Washington by his side: his chief of Earlier, an inspector had pleaded Engineering noted on its Web site that staff, Tom Strickland, and Interior’s IG, guilty to making false statements about the industry could save an estimated Earl Devaney. receiving gifts from industry. $193 million a year by reducing the One agency em- time and production lost in testing ployee, who was dating blowout preventers. an inspector, said her The company invited industry boyfriend told her that members to join the study’s steering the time he and other committee. The price: $100,000 per inspectors spent on the seat. Seven companies signed on: BP, platforms amounted Diamond, ENI, Marathon, Chevron, to mini-vacations. She Nexen and Seadrill. The American told the agents that they Petroleum Institute also contributed “eat like kings, they $100,000. (Other firms did not make any watch porn and they payments, but still had a role in the study.) take naps.” At MMS, the project raised few The IG agentsconcerns. Reflecting the agency’s status questioned employees as an industry partner, three MMS about their views of the officials participated. One served on Salazar releases a statement after former MMS director, Elizabeth industry’s generosity, the “leadership team” with five industry Birnbaum, is reported to have been forced out. (AP Photo) according to interview officials. On the West Engineering Web transcripts that have page for the study, the MMS logo appeared “The public knows of what happened not been publicly disclosed. with those of the American Petroleum here in Lakewood,” Salazar told the “What, though, do you think that the Institute, the Offshore Operators quiet crowd. “The ‘anything goes’ will oil company or the operating company Committee and the International end. And this department, and the gets for that?” one agent asked a MMS Association of Drilling Contractors. Minerals Management Service, will supervisor. West Engineering’s 119-page study lead the way in ending it.” “A relationship,” he replied. came out in January, three months Salazar promised a new code “And is that important?” the agent before a blind-shear ram failed to stop of conduct for the agency, and he asked the BP blowout. One recommendation: announced the end of the royalty-in-kind “Yes.” extend the testing interval for blind- program following evidence that millions “A relationship with who?” shear rams from 30 days to 77. of dollars in revenue had been lost. “With MMS.” MMS did not act on the proposal In Washington, Strickland assigned before the accident; the blind-shear ram’s his deputy to stay on top of the IG’s Industry financed failure has guaranteed it won’t act now. investigations. But as Salazar’s team West Engineering said the industry’s pursued other items on its agenda, For years before the blowout, MMS financial contributions played no role in MMS’s problems became less prominent. allowed the oil and gas industry to play a its scientific findings. “The results of our More than a year later, in May 2010, key role in the regulatory process, often work are driven by the science, the data, a second IG report on the MMS office accepting recommendations from the and our professional interpretation of that data,” the company said in a statement.

The breakup

Two weeks after Interior’s IG released its report on the Lake Charles office, Michael Bromwich was working at his law firm. He received a call from a friend in the White House legal office. “Have you been paying attention to what’s been happening with the Minerals Management Service?” his friend asked. “Vaguely,” Bromwich replied. “We’d like you to head that agency.” “What?” Bromwich, a former Justice Department official known for cleaning up troubled institutions, was eager, but Michael Bromwich, who now heads the government agency that oversees offshore drilling, the soon had serious reservations. To win Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, left, him over, the administration began an with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, right, on Capitol Hill in June. (Alex Brandon/AP/File) all-out lobbying campaign. Strickland, Salazar’s chief of staff, gave Bromwich dividing oversight from collecting executive Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. said a call. Salazar summoned him to his royalties. The House has passed a bill he continues to think that Washington office for a 11/2-hour sit-down. with a similar bent, but a stronger should defer to his industry. Bromwich remained unconvinced - separation between regulation and “There’s a role for regulation,” he until the phone rang in his beach house in revenue collection. The Senate will take said, “but the regulators shouldn’t be Rehoboth, Del., that weekend. It was the up the matter this fall. out there telling you how to do things.” White House operator. Was he available A presidential commission looking Senior Interior officials who have spent to take a call from the president? at the lessons of the BP oil spill has set the past four months trying to manage the “I really want you to do this job,” its sights on MMS’s culture as well. It ecological and public relations disaster in Obama said. will hold a public hearing Wednesday. the gulf said they have run out patience Bromwich told him that the job As Bromwich has suggested, it will with the partnership. came with a 90 percent pay cut, and he take more than a different name to “That path didn’t work, and the hadn’t fully discussed it with his wife. give the agency a fresh start. “There’s a public got let down in an enormous “If you want me to talk to her, let me shadow of the past that people in this way,” Strickland says. “There is now know,” Obama said. agency, including me, have to deal with, agreement - whether everyone in the The next week, Bromwich began and we will,” he said. industry agrees or not, because it’s as the director of the newly renamed Bromwich also knows it will take time coming, it’s happening - we need more Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and action to convince his employees oversight, more regulation.” Regulation and Enforcement. Salazar and the oil companies that a new era Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed had already reorganized the agency, has begun. In July, Marathon Oil chief to this report.