Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee to hold public meeting

The Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC) will hold its fourth public meeting next Thursday on 26 April. The agenda will address safety management systems, safety culture and the OESC subcommittees’ activities to date on the issues of oil spill prevention, spill containment, spill response and safety management systems. Interim recommendations will also be presented to the OESC from its four subcommittees for consideration.

The meeting is open to the public and will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Houston Intercontinental Airport Hotel from 8 am to 5:30 pm. Approximately 100 visitors can be accommodated on a first-come, first-serve basis. Members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the activities of OESC and related topics, also on a first-come, first-serve basis, during the time allotted for public comment and may submit written comments to the OESC during the meeting or by email to the Committee.

The OESC is a public federal advisory body, including some of the nation’s leading scientific, engineering and technical experts. The group consists of 15 members from federal agencies, the offshore oil and gas industry, academia and nongovernmental organizations; Don Jacobsen of Noble Drilling sits on the panel. Chaired by former Sandia National Laboratory director Dr Tom Hunter, the committee provides critical policy advice to the Secretary of the Interior through the BSEE Director on improving all aspects of offshore energy safety.

“The OESC is a valuable body that is able to thoroughly examine a range of issues from offshore energy workplace and drilling safety, to blowout containment and spill response,” said James Watson, director of the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. “We are looking forward to the insights and recommendations from this collaboration of government, industry, and academia as we continue our pursuit of improved offshore safety.”

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the establishment of the OESC on 19 January 2011. More information is available here.

Information about the meeting is available for public inspection in the Federal Register Reading Room.