Recent disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill have highlighted the need for government regulators to better understand the technology involved in offshore oil and gas production. But to do that the Department of the Interior will need outside help and a lot more money.

That’s the conclusion of a recently released report from the National Research Council and the National Academy of Engineering. The report, Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation, looks at ways in which the DOI’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) can better ensure public safety in the face of the lightening-fast technology advancements in the energy development.

The challenges of drilling in extreme environments pushes the industry to invest billions each year in developing new techniques and technology, according to a National Academies news release. Even while the BSEE is mandated by Congress to make sure these methods are safe, federal compensation limits mean the government can’t afford to retain top experts.

Top on BSEE’s plan for addressing this is the creation of an independent institute that would help the bureau perform critical technical assessments, economic analysis, and independent reviews, according to the release. While that’s a good plan, the report authors recommend broadening beyond the current scope.

The current scale of the institute, to be called the Ocean Energy Safety Institute, needs to be “significantly expanded to fully address the range of offshore challenges,” and the current funding of $5 million over five years is likely to be insufficient, the report states.

Instead, report authors suggest creating federally funded research and development center or a university-affiliated research center and funding it over multiple years.

“It will need a funding commitment that is consistently in the range of several million dollars per year to attract and grow the skills and competencies required…and keep pace with industry technology developments,” the report states.

Other recommendations include hiring a BSEE scientist with industry expertise to act as a liaison with the institute, using incentives to encourage industry investment in safety technologies, and broadening the range of focus to study both instrumentation and “often overlooked human factors.”