but it was more from a PR standpoint. Just to give you a little background on myself, I have been working essentially the same job (multiple contracts) since August 2009. When I started out the agency was called Minerals Management Service (MMS). MMS was primarily responsible for both leasing offshore permits (oil, natural gas, etc) and monitoring the offshore platforms to ensure they were adhering to the current safety standards. Then on April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon Incident tragically occurred. I won't bore you with the details (some of which I can't discuss because I don't know if it has ever been shared with the public), but I can say that Congress concluded there was a conflict of interest in MMS's role as both collector of royalties associated with offshore leases and monitoring safety.

As a result (and here is where the PR starts to come into play), on June 21, 2010 Congress decided to rebrand MMS into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE). Even though there was some reorganization, it was basically the same people doing the same job under a new name (albeit a temporary name).

Then on October 1, 2011, BOEMRE was split up into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). BOEM's primary activities involve resource evaluation, planning, and leasing. While BSEE's primarily activities involve improving safety and ensuring environmental protection relating to the offshore energy industry, mainly natural gas and oil, on the United States Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

So on paper the creation of 2 bureaus appears to create a clear separation of duties. However (and this is where the quasi part comes into play) in practice, there is enough shared services between the 2 bureaus that the bureaus are essentially 2 sides of the same coin. There is even talk that the 2 bureaus will eventually re-merge at some point in the future. If they do, then 1 half of the new bureau will continue BOEM's role and the other half will continue BSEE's role.