WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a House panel Thursday new regulations will strengthen management and oversight of offshore drilling.
Salazar testified with Michael Bromwich, director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
"The reorganization we are undertaking will help ensure strong and effective management and oversight of our nation's offshore energy resources," Salazar told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Bromwich added, "We are committed to delivering on reforms that are needed to ensure that America's offshore energy resources are developed safely and responsibly."
Salazar said the restructuring is based on the presumption that the missions within the bureau -- including Outer Continental Shelf resource management, safety and environmental oversight and enforcement and revenue collection -- need to be clearly defined and distinct from each other.
The officials' comments came after 11 workers died in an explosion at a BP deepwater rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20. Two days later, the rig sank, beginning almost three months of oil gushing into the gulf.
