U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has selected BP Exploration, Inc. (Houston) as the 1996 recipient of the Conservation Award for Respecting the Environment (CARE Award).

Bob Armstrong, U.S. Department of Interior's Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, presented the award to Jack Golden, President of BP Exploration, Inc., in New Orleans today.

BP Exploration's leadership and example in encouraging selective use of offshore platforms for scientific research stations led to their selection for this award.  In a program specifically identified and promoted since 1993 as the "Platforms for Research Project," BP has been cooperating with academia, Federal agencies, and private research institutions to expand understanding of Gulf of Mexico ocean dynamics and marine ecology by offering their strategically located offshore platforms as stable, all-weather research stations.  Besides offering their platforms for data gathering compatible with ongoing operations, they have also assisted researchers with room, board, transportation, and logistics.  Ongoing investigations by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Geographic Society, and Texas A&M at Corpus Christi have attested to the value and significance of their cooperative arrangements with BP.

Armstrong noted how other oil and gas operators have begun to form research partnerships associated with MMS environmental studies projects, enabling limited Federal research investments to accomplish more with less.  Results from these cooperative arrangements will be applied to decisions such as artificial reef siting and development beneficial to both Government and industry.  Armstrong went on to note that many of BP's voluntary stewardship activities are in coastal locations associated with communities where BP employees and administrators live and work.  BP Exploration's long-standing participation in the Texas Adopt-a-Beach program, wetlands restoration with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, energy conservation with the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Lights Program, in-house recycling, and waste handling demonstrate environmental action and accomplishment throughout the organization.

For more information on the CARE Award Program, contact Villere Reggio, MMS CARE Award Coordinator, (504) 736-2780.

The MMS is the Federal Agency that manages and regulates the Nation's natural gas, oil, and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from the offshore Federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral lease on Federal and Indian lands.