The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency are shuttering two regional offices that oversee offshore energy development, including keeping tabs on the safety risks and environmental harms of oil and gas drilling off the United States coast.
The government is terminating leases for two regional offices — one in Camarillo, California, and another in New Orleans — that house employees from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. These offices carry out parts of the federal government’s response procedure for oil spills and other offshore drilling incidents such as explosions, according to the bureaus’ websites.
The lease terminations come as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to cut government spending across almost every government agency, which has led to the impending closures of offices that handle key safety functions, including food safety and active volcano observation. While the government says other government bodies will handle some of the regional offices’ work, their closure could cut out a key point of contact for almost all of the country’s offshore oil and gas production.
Regional offices field calls from people who want to report spills and other incidents, according to guidance issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Phone numbers for each of the regional offices are included in the federal government’s oil spill emergency contact procedure list.
The Gulf regional office in New Orleans oversees an area that’s a “major focus of the oil and gas industry,” according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The outer continental shelf in the Gulf region is home to about 97% of the United States’ offshore oil and gas production, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Among the regional office’s functions are reviewing offshore energy permit applications, inspecting drilling rigs and production platforms and enforcing environmental compliance, according to its website.
With an existing offshore wind lease in the area and calls from offshore wind advocates to capitalize on renewable energy potential in the Gulf region, the regional office would also be in charge of any future offshore renewable energy development in the area.
The Pacific office fulfills a similar function, overseeing 30 oil and gas leases, as well as a growing market of offshore wind and mineral mining research and leases.
Oil spill risk analysis calculations and restoration projects after previous oil spills, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf, have also been at least partially developed and administered on a regional scale.
“Nearly three-fourths of the Gulf of America employees are scientists including geologists, geophysicists, petroleum engineers, physical scientists, biologists, environmental protection specialists, and environmental scientists,” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s website says. The website for the Pacific region lists a similar group of employees. It’s unclear what will happen to these employees when the office leases are terminated or if the offices’ functions continue elsewhere.
A Bureau of Ocean Energy Management spokesperson said that the bureau is “working with GSA to ensure facilities or alternative options will be available for the continued delivery of Interior services as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”
The General Services Administration did not respond to an inquiry from NOTUS.
One outer continental shelf expert told NOTUS that the closure of the Gulf office is particularly concerning given how much of the country’s oil and gas drilling happens under its purview.
Regional offices are the “point of first contact” for anything concerning offshore oil and gas production in a particular area, said Robin Kundis Craig, a University of Kansas School of Law professor with expertise on water rights and offshore leasing. Craig added that while oil spill reports trigger a chain of mechanisms larger than just these regional offices, shuttering the offices would cause confusion about the chain of command and who to contact in case of an emergency or for permitting.
In 2022, the General Services Administration proposed a five-year lease extension for the New Orleans office spaces occupied by BSEE and BOEM. The leases were set to expire at the end of 2025 and in early 2026. A congressional authorizing committee in 2023 approved appropriations for the extended leases. It’s unclear whether GSA’s lease termination for one of those spaces will impact the extended lease.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said: “BSEE offices are currently open and continue to provide services. The Department of the Interior is working with GSA to ensure facilities or alternative options will be available for the continued delivery of Interior services as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management. We will update you once we have more information or specifics of each office as we implement cost-saving measures that put taxpayers first while ensuring the responsible stewardship of America’s natural and cultural resources.”
The Alaska regional office for the bureaus is not on the list of lease terminations. Historically, most federally owned offshore leases on Alaska’s outer continental shelf have not produced oil and gas, but the region is estimated to hold more than 24 billion barrels of oil, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office expanding the government’s oil and gas drilling abilities in Alaska.
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Shifra Dayak is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.