The Trump administration is merging two Interior Department agencies into one office that will orchestrate its proposed plan to dramatically expand offshore oil and gas production and spearhead its Outer Continental Shelf critical minerals development initiatives.
Under a “phased transition” that began in April, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are being folded into the newly created Marine Minerals Administration.
Consolidation of the agencies, which were created in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 offshore rig workers in the Gulf of America, will require congressional approval, which is formally proposed in Interior’s $16.1 billion Fiscal Year 2027 spending request….