A Louisiana congressman, along with several other congressmen and U.S. senators, is seeking a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into allegations that a U.S. Interior Department agency has been illegally taking helicopter fuel from offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD, (R-Lafayette), charges that Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has been illegally helping itself to fuel stores to which it has no legal right. The BSEE is responsible for the regulation of offshore facilities engaged in oil-and-gas operations, including the safety of helidecks and aviation fuel storage and handling on fixed offshore facilities. The bureau has historically entered into contract agreements with helicopter service providers to obtain helicopter fuel at private offshore refueling sites to fulfill its mission of inspecting offshore facilities under lease from the federal government. However, the BSEE has allegedly expanded its interpretation of statute to simply seize fuel from private contractors who do not wish to enter into fuel-sharing agreements with the agency, according to Boustany.
In late 2014 the BSEE summarily notified Gulf of Mexico (GOM) operators and leaseholders that it was reinterpreting federal law (30 CFR 250.132(a)(2)), which requires lessees and operators to provide helicopter landing sites and refueling facilities to helicopters BSEE uses to regulate offshore operations. In citing its rationale for the change, the bureau noted, “BSEE’s [contracted] helicopter operator has a wide range of fuel stations throughout the GOM, in addition to having fuel service agreements with multiple helicopter vendors. BSEE’s helicopter operator prefers to use its own fuel stations or those of its service agreement partners; however, there are still times when it is in the best interest of the government for BSEE’s helicopter operator to use other fuel stations. BSEE needs to ensure that its helicopter operator has access to fuel wherever it flies to minimize the risk to BSEE employees and helicopter personnel from additional takeoffs and landings, to increase inspection efficiency, and to decrease flight costs.”
The BSEE went on to warn operators that they would be sanctioned for failure to provide access to helicopter landing facilities and fuel on demand, regardless of whether a BSEE inspection were taking place. The BSEE noted that its helicopter operator would pay for the fuel. “If fuel is denied for a BSEE-contracted helicopter, BSEE inspectors will issue an incident of non-compliance (INC) for a violation. If the operator fails to correct the violation, then a civil penalty may be warranted,” the agency noted.
Boustany and members of the Louisiana congressional delegation called on the BSEE to cease taking non-contracted fuel and the agency refused. The fact that the BSEE, through its helicopter operator, was willing to pay for the fuel was immaterial, Boustany charged, insomuch as the unscheduled and unplanned taking of fuel from rigs in the Gulf can create major logistical difficulties for operators there. Writing with his colleagues to the GAO on February 29, Boustany noted, “The offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico relies on helicopter service providers to perform an array of tasks critical to the support of offshore drilling, production and maintenance operations, among other critical services. Those helicopter service companies often pre-position, at great expense, privately owned refueling stations with quantities of aviation fuel on the facilities of the clients they service, so that their pilots can safely refuel between missions without having to return to shore.”
Boustany and his colleagues are asking the GAO to determine if the BSEE has the statutory authority to demand or seize the fuel, and, if so, under what conditions. It also is asking the GAO to investigate “whether BSEE employees, by demanding or seizing, or directing participation of third parties in demand for or seizure of helicopter fuel through intimidation, coercion or other means, directly or indirectly, without consent of the private owner of the fuel, would be subject to (civil or criminal liability).”