He has pledged never to lobby the Interior Department agencies he led
Michael Bromwich, who led the reorganization of the regulatory regime for offshore drilling in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, has launched a consulting firm, The Bromwich Group LLC. Drawing on the breadth of Bromwich's background, which also included long experience investigating and reorganizing troubled law enforcement agencies, the firm will offer services ranging from consulting on offshore energy matters to helping federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in crisis.
Michael Bromwich was photographed in June 2010. "In 18 years in the private sector and 14 years in the government, one of my greatest satisfactions has been in assembling interdisciplinary teams to diagnose and solve critical problems faced by organizations of all kinds, to do so promptly, and to provide those organizations with the tools they need to succeed," said Bromwich.
In a year and a half on the job reorganizing and strengthening the agencies trusted with overseeing and permitting offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, Bromwich, who had no background in energy issues, proved a formidable figure. He was in the eye of the storm after the spill, as the Obama administration sought to impose heightened standards to avoid a repeat of the disaster, dramatically slowing the pace of permitting, first through a five-month outright moratorium on drilling and then because of the tighter regulatory requirements that were imposed as permitting resumed.
For his efforts, Bromwich was widely praised, but also was a source of frustration to many in the oil and gas business and in Louisiana's congressional delegation, to whom he became the embodiment of a regulator who went above and beyond the call of duty, or what they considered a reasonable response to the BP debacle.
Now the question is which drilling operator will be the first to retain The Bromwich Group. But they should know in advance, Bromwich has pledged never to lobby the Interior Department agencies he led.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.450.1406. Jonathan Tilove can be reached at jtilove@timespicayune.com or 202.450.1404.