[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 139 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37493-37494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18267]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service


Safety and Environmental Management Program (SEMP) on the Outer 
Continental Shelf (OCS)

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The MMS has postponed its decision regarding the mandatory or 
voluntary adoption of the SEMP by OCS lessees. The MMS does not have 
sufficient information to determine whether the voluntary adoption of 
SEMP currently achieves the regulatory goals of the MMS. We will 
continue assessing the oil and gas industry's progress in implementing 
SEMP and will make a determination on this program in mid-1997.

DATES: Comments may be submitted at any time.

ADDRESSES: We welcome your comments on MMS' SEMP concept, the American 
Petroleum Institute's Recommended Practice 75, OCS safety and 
environmental protection issues in general, implementation strategies, 
and related matters. Send comments to Henry Bartholomew; Deputy 
Associate Director for Operations and Safety Management; Minerals 
Management Service; Mail Stop 4600; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 
22070-4817.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeff Wiese, SEMP Manager; Mail Stop 4800; Minerals Management Service; 
381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 22070-4817, telephone (703) 787-
1591.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

What Is SEMP?

    The SEMP is a safety systems management model designed around 
offshore oil and gas exploration and development activities. This 
concept is currently embodied in a publication of the American 
Petroleum Institute (API) known as Recommended Practice 75 (RP75). This 
document is available from the API: they can be reached by phone at 
(202) 682-8375.

How Did We Get to This Point?

    The MMS introduced its SEMP concept in the Federal Register on July 
2, 1991 (56 FR 30400). In response, OCS operators requested that they 
be given an opportunity to further develop SEMP and a chance to 
demonstrate that they could voluntarily adopt it. The MMS joined with a 
broad-based industry committee to refine the SEMP concept under the 
aegis of the API. In May 1993, the API published RP75 as its response 
to SEMP. On June 30, 1994, the MMS published a notice in the Federal 
Register (59 FR 33779) in which it said that RP75 generally captured 
the agency's perception of what a SEMP should contain. At that time, 
the MMS committed to a 2-year moratorium on regulatory activity related 
to SEMP during which time it would closely monitor the voluntary 
adoption of RP75 by OCS operators. The observation period officially 
expires this summer.

Why Is the MMS Promoting SEMP?

    The MMS and its predecessors have developed a sound regulatory 
program to protect the public's interests in the exploration and 
development of OCS oil and gas over the course of more than a quarter 
century. This program is based, in large measure, on standards and 
recommended practices developed in association with OCS stakeholders 
that delimit how a ``safe and prudent'' operator would conduct its 
business. This regulatory program has historically focused on hardware 
and engineering solutions. It has been, as well, fairly prescriptive.
    The SEMP concept was created to address the role of human and 
organizational error to accidents. By some estimates, human and 
organizational factors lie at the root cause of up to eighty percent of 
all accidents.
    Through SEMP, the MMS is seeking alternative ways to enhance 
current efforts to protect people and the environment during oil and 
gas exploration and production activities taking place on the U.S. OCS. 
The MMS undertook this initiative following two separate, but related, 
studies which indicated that OCS operators were led by the traditional, 
prescriptive regulatory approach of the MMS to focus more on compliance 
with existing rules than in systematically identifying and mitigating 
all risks posed by their operations. Implementation of SEMP squarely 
places the responsibility for protection of people, facilities, and the 
environment on the shoulders of OCS operators.

How Well Is SEMP Being Implemented?

    To gauge how well OCS operators were implementing SEMP, as well as 
to identify areas in which the agency could assist them in this 
endeavor, the MMS joined with the API, the Independent Petroleum 
Association of America, the Offshore Operator's Committee, and the 
National Ocean Industries Association to conduct an annual series of 
surveys. The baseline implementation survey was conducted in January 
1995 and a follow-up survey was performed in January 1996. About 95 
percent of all OCS operators representing over 99 percent of total OCS 
oil and gas production (over 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per 
day) responded to this last survey.
    Collectively, these surveys have shown that OCS operators--as a 
whole--are well on their way to implementing SEMP plans that they have 
been developing during the past 2 years. If progress similar to this is 
maintained, the MMS expects that many of these companies' SEMP plans 
will be fully implemented in the field within the next 1-2 years.

[[Page 37494]]

Has the MMS Fully Evaluated the Voluntary Adoption Approach?

    No. Because the MMS strongly believes that the real value of SEMP 
will be derived from field-level implementation of SEMP plans, we 
believe it will be another year before we have enough evidence to 
ascertain whether this regulatory approach will be a success. We have 
every reason to believe it will be if OCS operators continue to develop 
and implement their SEMP plans with due diligence.

What's Next?

    The MMS will defer judgment on how successful voluntary adoption of 
RP75 has been for 1 year. We have, however, identified a few goals that 
we can pursue collectively with OCS operators during this time:
    1. Work to broaden voluntary implementation to the few remaining 
holdouts;
    2. Accelerate, where feasible, field-level implementation of SEMP 
plans;
    3. Continue to promote greater understanding of SEMP through 
cooperative efforts such as the joint workshops held during 1995;
    4. Begin to develop reliable, commonly-defined measures of 
performance; and,
    5. Further explore regulatory reform for companies that 
conscientiously develop, implement, and undertake to improve SEMP 
plans.
    Also during this time, the MMS will continue its efforts to 
independently assess implementation of SEMP by meeting with OCS 
operators on a voluntary basis to discuss their SEMP plans and by 
talking to field-level personnel during routine inspections we conduct 
of their offshore facilities.

(Authority: U.S.C. 1334)

    Dated: June 26, 1996.
Carolita U. Kallaur,
Acting Director, Minerals Management Service.
[FR Doc. 96-18267 Filed 7-17-96; 8:45 am]
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