Federal regulators said that the increases are consistent with inflation adjustments that current federal law allows
WASHINGTON -- Oil and gas companies will face higher fines for violations of federal regulations under a new penalty schedule announced today by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE).
Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. BOEMRE announced Wednesday that it was increasing fines for oil and gas companies who violate federal regulations.The maximum penalties would increase from $35,000 to $40,000 per day for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and from $25,000 to $30,000 per day for violations of the Oil Pollution Act.
Federal regulators said that the increases are consistent with inflation adjustments that current federal law allows. The Obama administration has asked Congress to allow higher penalty increases, but that proposal has gone nowhere.
"Even with the inflation adjustment, which is the limit of our current regulatory authority, our civil fine authority is inadequate," said Michael Bromwich, the BOEMRE director. "That view is shared by energy companies operating in the Outer Continental Shelf. The inadequacy of our civil authority hampers our ability to effectively regulate offshore activities and renders such fines as a trivial nuisance rather than an effective deterrent."
Bromwich, whose agency took over the regulation of off-shore drilling after last year's BP oil spill, again called on Congress to increase the maximum fines "to encourage compliance with offshore oil and gas rules and regulations and meaningfully deter violations."
The agency can impose civil penalties when an operator fails to correct recorded violations or commits a violation seen as a threat of serious, irreparable or immediate harm or damage to life, property, mineral deposits, or the marine, coastal or human environment.
Current law allows the Interior Department, the cabinet agency that oversees BOEMRE, to increase penalties at least once every three years.