When Houston executives Don Armijo and Jon Unwin arrived earlier this month to meet with the offshore oil-and-gas industry’s chief safety regulator, a warm message awaited them in the hallway of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“BSEE Welcomes Marine Well Containment Company,” read signs featuring a photo of one of the company’s subsea well-control devices and the names of Armijo, the chief executive, and Unwin, the health and safety officer.
The signs are a new touch courtesy of Scott Angelle, a veteran Louisiana politician and oil-industry ally who now heads the agency responsible for improving safety in the offshore oil industry.
Angelle made his name in Louisiana fighting against a moratorium on offshore-oil production that followed the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout, in which 11 workers were killed.
Angelle says he puts a priority on the safety of the offshore-oil business. But he also says his mission as BSEE director is to “drive performance” in the offshore oil-and-gas industry, and to improve relations with drillers. He is one of a number of Trump-administration regulators who have represented the interests of industries they now oversee.
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