Obama administration creates Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to regulate offshore energy leasing

The Obama administration reorganized the Department of the Interior's offshore regulatory structure on Oct. 1, 2011, creating the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as a standalone agency to handle offshore energy leasing and environmental review, separated from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The reorganization followed the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil. BOEM inherited OCSLA's lease management authority, including the procedural requirements for lease cancellation.