Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | October 1, 2011 |
Preceding agency | |
Headquarters | Main Interior Building Washington, D.C. |
Employees | N/A |
Annual budget | N/A |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Department of the Interior |
Website | www.boem.gov |
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, established in 2010 by Secretarial Order. [1] The oil, gas, and renewable energy related management functions formerly under the purview of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) were delegated to the BOEM and its sister agency, The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Specifically, BOEM is involved in resource evaluation, planning, and leasing. [1]
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) states: "...the outer Continental Shelf is a vital national resource reserve held by the Federal Government for the public, which should be made available for expeditious and orderly development, subject to environmental safeguards, in a manner which is consistent with the maintenance of competition and other national needs." [2]
The agency's first director, serving from June 2010 to May 2014, was Tommy Beaudreau. [3] The second director was Abigail Ross Hopper, serving from January 2015 to January 2017. [4] From 2017 to 2021, deputy director Walter Cruickshank served as the acting director.
From February 2021 to January 2023, the director was Amanda Lefton. [5] In an announcement with United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on April 27, 2022, Lefton said that her agency would focus on efforts to promote offshore wind projects, saying that BOEM would work to "inspire confidence and demonstrate commitment" for lease planning and calling it her "number-one priority," National Fisherman reported. [6] In January 2023, Lefton announced her resignation, effective January 19. [7]
As of January 19,2023 [update] , the director is Elizabeth Klein. [7]
Order | Picture | Name | Start date | End date | President(s) served under |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tommy Beaudreau | June 2010 | May 2014 | Barack Obama | |
— | Walter Cruickshank (acting) | May 2014 | January 6, 2015 | Barack Obama | |
2 | Abigail Ross Hopper | January 6, 2015 | January 6, 2017 | Barack Obama | |
— | Walter Cruickshank (acting) | January 6, 2017 | February 2, 2021 | Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden | |
3 | Amanda Lefton | February 2, 2021 | January 19, 2023 | Joe Biden | |
4 | Elizabeth Klein | January 19, 2023 | — | Joe Biden |
A function inherited from the MMS is the review of nearly 1,700 planned wells and pipelines every year. The BOEM keeps records of shipwrecks, to ensure the Nation's important historical sites are protected. These shipwrecks, particularly when over fifty years old, may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, [8] and any new wells or pipelines have to be studied for their potential effect on archaeological sites on the outer continental shelf. [9]
The BOEM maintains a list of shipwrecks and the location.
There were over 100 attacks on ships in the Gulf of Mexico by German U-boats. Several were listed by the MMS and maintained by the BOEM.
The only known German U-boat to be sunk in the Gulf is U-166. After sinking the SS Robert E. Lee the United States Navy patrol craft PC-566 reported hitting and sinking the submarine. This was questioned and the sinking was attributed to a United States Coast Guard Grumman G-44 Widgeon, that reported an attack over 100 miles away, thought to be the U-166. In 2001 the wreckage of U-166 was identified near the wreckage of the Robert E. Lee and in 2014 the record was set straight that PC-566 actually sunk U-166. In 2014 the position, 28°37′N90°45′W / 28.617°N 90.750°W was designated a war grave. [17]
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United States Coast Guard, and other maritime concerns. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Its best-known vessels include the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245), the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), the nuclear-powered cargo ship NS Savannah, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the 4 Aces.
German submarine U-166 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 6 December 1940 at the Seebeckwerft at Wesermünde as yard number 705, launched on 1 November 1941, and commissioned on 23 March 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Günther Kuhlmann. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, U-166 was transferred to the 10th U-boat Flotilla for front-line service on 1 June 1942. The U-boat sailed on only two war patrols and sank four ships totalling 7,593 gross register tons (GRT). She was sunk on 30 July 1942 in the Gulf of Mexico.
German submarine U-171 was a Type IXC U-boat of Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. It was laid down on 1 December 1940 at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard at Bremen as yard number 1011, launched on 22 July 1941, and commissioned on 25 October 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Günther Pfeffer.
The New York Bight is the geological identification applied to a roughly triangular indentation, regarded as a bight, along the Atlantic coast of the United States that extends northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island. As the result of direct contact with the Gulf Stream along the coast of North America, the coastal climate of the bight area is temperate.
SS Alcoa Puritan was a cargo ship in the service of Alcoa Steamship Company that was torpedoed and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II.
The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a feature of the geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U.S. states.
The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southwest and south by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo; and on the southeast by Cuba. The Southern U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, which border the Gulf on the north, are often referred to as the "Third Coast" of the United States.
Offshore oil and gas in the United States provides a large portion of the nation’s oil and gas supply. Large oil and gas reservoirs are found under the sea offshore from Louisiana, Texas, California, and Alaska. Environmental concerns have prevented or restricted offshore drilling in some areas, and the issue has been hotly debated at the local and national levels.
Offshore drilling for oil and gas on the Atlantic coast of the United States took place from 1947 to the early 1980s. Oil companies drilled five wells in Atlantic Florida state waters and 51 exploratory wells on federal leases on the outer continental shelf of the Atlantic coast. None of the wells were completed as producing wells. All the leases have now reverted to the government.
Below is the timeline of maritime events during the Emergency,. This period was referred to as The Long Watch by Irish Mariners. This list is of events which affected the Irish Mercantile Marine, other ships carrying Irish exports or imports, and events near the Irish coast.
Chris Craig Oynes was an American lawyer and Federal government administrator.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is an agency under the United States Department of the Interior. Established in 2011, BSEE is the lead agency in charge of improving safety and ensuring environmental protection relating to the offshore energy industry, mainly natural gas and oil, on the United States Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The agency exercises the safety and environmental enforcement functions formerly under the Minerals Management Service including the authority to inspect, investigate, summon witnesses and produce evidence, levy penalties, cancel or suspend activities, and oversee safety, response, and removal preparedness.
Innes McCartney is a British nautical archaeologist and historian. He is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University in the UK.
SS Robert E. Lee was a steam passenger ship built for the Eastern Steamship Lines in 1924. It was sunk on 30 July 1942 after being torpedoed by the German submarine U-166 on its return to New Orleans.
Skipjack is a 966 MW capacity off shore wind farm, proposed by Ørsted US Offshore Wind to be built on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Delaware, approximately 16.9 nautical miles from the coast opposite Fenwick Island. It was originally projected that the project, which will provide power to Maryland, would be commissioned in 2022, but NIMBY opposition has pushed it to at least 2026. It is one of the wind farm farm projects providing wind power to Maryland, the others being MarWin and Momentum Wind.