In or around October 2018, the director of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Scott Angelle, ordered staff to edit a series of memos discussing proposed changes to offshore drilling regulations. The changes, which were finalized in May 2019, included weakening requirements for the testing of safety equipment and the maintenance of drilling pressure (among other things). In a series of memos dated September 15, 2018, BSEE engineers recommended that the changes not be implemented but were later asked to remove that recommendation. In an email dated October 16, 2018, BSEE engineer Kirk Malstrom told colleagues that Mr. Angelle had "asked the team to revise" the memos to "remove the . . . recommendations" and endorse the changes, which were supported by industry.
Update:
At a Congressional hearing on March 10, 2020, BSEE Director Scott Angelle denied telling staff to remove the engineers' recommendations from the decision memos. Director Angelle did, however, admit that he told aides that it was not yet time to make recommendations.