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Management System or SEMS program in place. The two new regulations published since Deepwater Horizon are the Drilling Safety Rule and the Workplace Safety Rule or Safety and Environmental Management System.? She added ?I?m not aware of any provisions with the Drilling Safety Rule that affect OSVs.? BSEE doesn?t make demands directly on contractors, she said. ?BSEE requires documentation or demonstration from the operator that its contractors exercise a Safety and Environmental Management System program.? Meanwhile, the offshore enforcement process is more stringent than it was before the Macondo blowout, but not greatly so. Inspectors continue to conduct mostly scheduled reviews of drilling rigs, and they issue incidents of non- compliance for violations--starting a process that can lead to civil penalties but seldom does. Companies have several opportunities to appeal citations and proposed penalties. Civil penalties are capped at $40,000 per incident a day ? an amount some say is not enough for oil companies spending up to $600,000 a day to rent a drilling rig. The Macondo tragedy has already cost BP and Trans- ocean dearly. BP has spent or committed over $37 billion for cleanup, restoration, payouts, settlements and  nes (so far), still facing billions more in. On January 29, BP pleaded guilty in Eastern District Court of Louisiana to 14 criminal counts, including 11 felony counts of manslaugh-ter, and it agreed to pay $4 billion in penalties in the big- gest U.S. criminal resolution ever. On Feb. 14, Transocean was  ned $1 billion after pleading guilty to one misde- meanor count of violating the Clean Water Act, and agreed to pay another $400 million in criminal penalties. LOOKING FORWARD Phase One of the spill trial is expected to continue to late April, barring a settlement before then. A Phase Two trial could start in September to examine spill-response evidence and the amount of oil that escaped the well. A third phase, probably in 2014, will consider environmental and eco- nomic damages. Energy producers will be watching all of it closely, benchmarking their operations and trying to ensure that they do not suffer a similar fate. More than being safe and environmentally correct; it?s also good business. Tidewater?s vessel Damon B. Bankston rescued 115 surviors from the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010. (Courtesy of Captaint76, released to the public domain. 30 MNApril 2013MN April2013 Layout 18-31.indd 30MN April2013 Layout 18-31.indd 304/1/2013 12:00:54 PM4/1/2013 12:00:54 PM