Update-Outer Continental Shelf Lease Management Program
Authors: Solanas Donald W. 
Published: December 2007

To avoid stealing this author's thunder, let us paraphrase, though inadequately, his closing quotation. There is nothing that stands alone; there is nothing that only stands; and the piper will be paid.

Introduction

The evolution of the petroleum industry and the concurrent emergence of conservation laws and regulations over the past 50 years have been of great significance. From the highly individualistic oil producers of a few decades ago have emerged a major industry and a major technology. Now it is comprehensively and constructively regulated so as to permit efficient exploration and the development and recovery of the nation's oil and gas reserves, while protecting the environment and the rights of others. In retrospect, the early oil man by today's standards seems wasteful, but it must be remembered that knowledge of the causes of waste and the remedies for it was meager. Despite its relatively short life span, the petroleum industry has a remarkable record of rapid development of technology and its widespread use. Government has the responsibility to establish reasonable regulations and standards that assure, safe, clean operations, while also giving proper consideration to technical feasibility and lead times. The burden of proving that petroleum operations can be carried on safely rests mainly with the petroleum industry. Government and industry have a joint responsibility to avoid improperly conducted Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) operations; they must also avoid the misunderstanding of those operations that causes the public consent to be withheld. The public needs to know that a satisfactory technologic capability exists for safely carrying out difficult and potentially dangerous operations, and it needs to be assured that adequate regulatory and supervisory capabilities exist to see that operations will indeed be conducted safely. Each operator must have that earnest desire to conduct his activities properly that often is more effective than regulations or enforcement procedures. Nevertheless, considering the important values at stake, the protection of the public interest should not depend on good intentions alone. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the organization that bears the responsibility for seeing that offshore petroleum exploration and production are conducted properly. Oil spills occur because of either human error or faulty technology. When human error is involved, the number of accidents is somewhat related to the number of people involved and to the complexity of the system. Accidents, and in particular oil spills, also result from improper design of equipment or because of its deterioration. Two general questions are to be dealt with. The first is, How are accidents to be kept to a minimum? This requires foreseeing hazards and taking preventive measures. The second is, How do we take care of accidents that happen despite the best preventive efforts? Precautionary measures, improved training of workers, improved organizational procedures, and advances in technology will reduce the number of accidents. The USGS is an important public source of unbiased information and judgments about the earth's physical resources and problems related to their use physical resources and problems related to their use and conservation.

JPT

P. 388