Aging oil rigs spark debate: removal or reef?
Twenty-three rigs sit in federal waters off California’s coast, nearing the end of their life spans. BOEM expects them to soon stop producing oil — and, technically, federal leases require companies to completely remove decommissioned rigs. The California Marine Resources Legacy Act provides a loophole, allowing companies an exemption if there is a “net” environmental benefit to leaving the rigs as reefs. To proponents, the option is a win-win: The fish get to live, and companies will donate some of their significant savings to marine conservation. The debate often centers on a scientific question: Do rigs provide beneficial habitat, or do they just attract marine life passing through? Read the rest here 16:54
Decommissioned and abandoned oil wells LEAK! It costs money to remove and plug them so they don’t leak. If that’s even possible!
“More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.”