The Obama administration selected Coast Guard veteran Brian Salerno as director of the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
Salerno previously served as a former Vice Admiral in the US Coast Guard. He will take over the position from James Watson, a former Coast Guard Rear Admiral, who has been director of the BSEE since his appointment in December 2011.
“Salerno is an accomplished professional who brings proven expertise in maritime safety and emergency response to the job,” said Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell in a statement. “As we continue the vital work of ensuring safe and responsible offshore energy development, Salerno’s experience, vision, leadership and qualifications could not be more important.”
Salerno will serve as the third director in the organization’s history. Before retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard last year as its Deputy Commandant for Operations, Salerno served as Incident Commander for responses to several large-scale transportation accidents, hurricanes and oil spills, including the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010.
"I look forward to working with the employees at BSEE on the important work of ensuring that offshore operations are safe, secure and environmentally sound," said Salerno. "I recognize the great strides that the department has made over the past years, and I look forward to continuing that progress, working in close contact with our partners across government and industry."
Salerno’s predecessor, Watson, is set to take over as president and COO for the Americas division of the maritime classification society, ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). He will with the BSEE until the end of August.
It is not clear how Salerno’s appointment might affect the timeline for proposals to tighten performance standards on critical emergency equipment known as blowout preventers and production systems used offshore. Those new mandates were on track to be formally proposed later this year.
(photo source: www.marinelink.com)
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