White House seeks new fees on offshore drillers

The Interior budget plan calls for beefing up the agency’s ability to regulate drillers, while extending an olive branch by noting that “these reforms will also facilitate the timely review of offshore oil and gas permits.”

Since the spill, Interior has overhauled and rebranded the former Minerals Management Service, which is now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

“The Budget proposes over $500 million to restructure BOEMRE; hire new oil and gas inspectors, engineers, scientists, and other key staff to oversee industry operations; establish real-time monitoring of key drilling activities; conduct detailed engineering reviews of offshore drilling and production safety systems; and implement more aggressive reviews of company oil spill response plans,” the budget plan unveiled Monday states.

Overall, the plan calls for roughly level funding for the Interior Department at $12 billion.