The NewsRoom
Release: #3576
Date: November 30, 2006

MMS Develops Hurricane Web Page

Agency Creates Central Location for Information on Hurricane Impacts

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) today launched a hurricane web site that brings together extensive information and resources to help describe and explain the preparation that goes into protecting human life and environmental safety when natural disasters threaten energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The general public tends to focus on hurricanes only during hurricane season, which runs from June 1 – November 30, and only when there is a threat to land,” said MMS Director Johnnie Burton. “The Minerals Management Service must prepare every year, throughout the year, in order to produce the outstanding safety record demonstrated during 2005 Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.

The MMS was poised to premier the web site at the first indication of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico that threatened oil and gas production. This, thankfully, has not happened in the current hurricane season. Still, the information provided on the web site can serve as good reference material and give the public the most current information about the preparations for protecting human life and the environment during natural disasters.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept across over 3,000 of the more than 4,000 oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, yet there was no loss of life or serious injury associated with evacuation operations. Equally impressive is the fact that all of the subsurface safety valves operated at 100% efficiency, sealing oil and gas wells below the ocean floor, and protecting the Gulf waters from  contamination.

“Every year, the MMS prepares as though there is a Hurricane Katrina or Rita waiting to endanger the thousands of individuals working on oil and gas rigs and platforms in the Gulf,” said Burton. “Every year we raise the bar higher, using the most effective technology and current science to develop even stronger safety standards for the industry to follow.”

The MMS Hurricane website contains a variety of information in many subject areas ranging from safety and evacuations to environmental studies and technological improvements. There is also historical hurricane data, a selection of pictures, statistics on energy resources shut in and subsequently returned to production during the 2005 storms, as well as terms, definitions, and fact sheets.

The site may be accessed at: http://www.mms.gov/2006Hurricanes/2006HurricaneSeason.htm.

Relevant Web Site:
   MMS Main Website

Media Contact:
   Gary Strasburg  (202) 208-3985

MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior
 

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