Rule-Making Process United States of America

RULE-MAKING PROCESS (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) 

In the USA, an agency wishing to introduce a new rule such as SEMS must publish that proposed rule for public comment. At the end of that time the agency holds a public 

With regard to SEMS, this process was followed at first. The MMS published a draft rule containing just four of the technical elements of SEMP. They allowed time for written comments, and then held a public hearing in New Orleans in 2009. However, following the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the MMS/BOEMRE used its emergency powers to publish the final rule, which was much more comprehensive than the draft, without any additional public comments or additional hearings. 

In an interview published by the Houston Chronicle on February 12, 2011, BOEMRE Director Bromwich stated that his agency has no plans to make additional emergency rules. Rather, any changes will now go through the typical rule-making process that takes up to two years... It is not anticipated that this statement will be applied retrospectively to the existing final rule. 

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