Skip Navigation Minerals Management Service Minerals Management Service MMS Home pagesSearchMMS Topic IndexAbout MMSWhat’s New
Environmental Monitoring -- Offshore Minerals Management		 United States Department of the Interior

Link to Director's Page
Link to Strategic Planning
Minerals Revenue Management

Congressional Affairs
Newsroom
Link to Advisory Commiittees
Link to Minerals Management Service Library
Quality of Information Guidelines
Link to Freedom of Information Act
Link to Kids' Page
Link to Privacy Act/Disclaimers
Job Opportunities
Link to Products and Services
" "
Environmental Monitoring Home
Definitions
Maps
Environmental Compliance Monitoring Projects
Environmental Research Monitoring Projects
MMS Case Studies
" "
USA.gov logo: The U.S. government’s official web portal.
" "

 Pagemasters:
    OEMM Web Team

" "

  

Inspections for Compliance with Environmental Protection Measures

Environmental protection measures include:

bullet lease sale terms (stipulations and Information to Lessees),
 
bullet project mitigation adopted by the operator and described in an Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) plan,
 
bullet conditions of approval of an OCS plan adopted by the Alaska Region following reviews and consultations, and
 
bullet permits issued by other regulatory authorities such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Alaska Region conducts on-site inspections for compliance with these various environmental protection measures.

The Alaska Region uses a Potential Incident of Noncompliance (PINCs,) checklist that is developed from the MMS safety and pollution prevention regulations. The specific PINCs are selected from a national PINC list as appropriate for the type of activity (e.g., drilling or production).

In addition to the PINC list, the Alaska Region develops a project specific compliance checklist that highlights unique environmental protection measures required for that project. This checklist is developed based on mitigation adopted by the operator as described in their OCS plan and the conditions of approval imposed by the Alaska Region.

During on-site inspections, the inspector also reviews other activities that are subject to the regulatory authority or permits of other agencies. If the inspector identifies potential non-compliance with these permits, the Alaska Region will notify the appropriate regulatory agency. For example, the inspector reviews monitoring records for bird collisions at the Northstar development facility to determine if any Steller’s Eiders, a protected species, have been impacted and, if so, whether incidents were reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In the Alaska Region, the inspection program is managed by the Office of Field Operations (FO) operating within the MMS Alaska Regional Office located in Anchorage. The FO staff consists of a multi-disciplinary staff of engineers, geoscientist, industrial specialist, oil spill program administrator, and regulatory analyst.

Privacy | Disclaimers | Accessibility | Topic Index | FOIA

Last Updated: 07/15/2008, 08:57 AM

Top of Page