Abandoned rigs should be left alone for growth of Gulf habitat

[white cloud]

Currently, oil companies spend about $500 million annually to remove retired rigs. In the end, if the government continues to force them, they will have spent $15 billion. Who do you think will absorb that cost?

http://www.caller.com/news/2011/oct/05/abandoned-rigs-should-be-left-alone-for-growth/?partner=RSS


Lots of deceit and unaddressed area with the article. Don't think taxpayer need the burden of tombstoning platforms for many years to come. Let Big Oily convert to "Rig for Reef" or remove them.

The whole article Stinks of "Diaper Vitter" and Big oil trying to get out of burden of decommissioning of Platform & related, then returning to Back to environmentally sound area.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigs-to-Reefs

"No other industry is allowed to leave a toxic mess for the state to manage and maintain at taxpayer expense" said Linda Krop,

[Vogon_Glory]

1. I Disagree With Your Premise. Leave Abandoned Rigs In Place

I disagree with your premise. Abandoned oil rigs SHOULD be left in place.

Despite the "puff piece" flavor of the article, abandoned rigs ARE havens for sponges and reef fish in an otherwise barren, frequently-trawled part of the Gulf of Mexico.

I believe this to be true because I've seen pictures. Not pictures from the offices of oil companies and paid PR operatives, but pictures made by people who actually DO go out and scuba-dive off those rigs. And I'd take the evidence of sport divers' photographs over some land-lubber inland eco-ideologue's polemics any day of the week.

My rule of thumb is that if the fish like those abandoned platforms, if those habitats attract reef fish and those fish (and sponges) attract pelagic fish, it's good. If the fish didn't like it, they wouldn't loiter around and the area would be an abandoned jellyfish-ridden wasteland. I believe that the evidence is that abandoned rigs are a bit like oases for reef fish, much like artificial wells in state parks are oases for wild (land) game.

Clean up any toxins around the actual oil well, but leave the rig alone. If the superstructure above the waterline bothers eco-aesthetes, lop it off, but leave the underwater portions for fish habitat.

Personally, I suspect agitation for rig removal comes from two sources. The first is from armchair eco-purists who haven't gone out to see if their theorizing matches real-life conditions. I believe that the second source consists of commercial fishing interests who want more bottom to trawl and who aren't interested as to whether the game fish likely to congregate around old rigs might attract local sport fishermen and boost the local economy.

And if leaving those rigs saves taxpayers some bucks AND helps the local economy, so much the better.

[Marnie]

2. You do realize that there are over a thousand of these things

and there is now guarantee that the plugged the hole the poked in the earth's crust with anything stronger than a cork.

[white cloud]

3. I agree... Make big Oily turn them all to Rigs For Reef

Read both article and stepback. Big Oil is trying to pass the expense on to TAXPAYER BACKS AGAIN.

Big oil is trying to get out of the burden of decommissioning or maintain the rig for lifetime. They are a Shipping hazard and they have to be plotted, marked, and proper warning system installed and maintained for life time.

I agree they are great attractions of marine life and I have been diving on several reefs in Texas, Alabama, and NW Florida. Why should taxpayers be burden with this expense. BO needs to RTR all abandons rigs for rec diving, rec fishing, tourism, and fishing industry.

[white cloud]

4. some information

Abandoned oil wells make Gulf of Mexico 'environmental minefield'AP investigation finds BP was responsible for 600 of more than 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/07/abandoned-oil-wells-gulf-mexico

Of these rigs, 23,500 are permanently abandoned, and 3,500 are only “temporarily abandoned.” Companies that plan to leave a well temporarily abandoned have a year to submit plans for permanent sealing. It came as no surprise to POGO, after our decade-long struggle with the Minerals Management Service (MMS), that the AP report found that this “rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year.”

Despite evidence that these abandoned and temporarily abandoned wells are at risk of leaking at any time (as geological conditions shift and cement deteriorates) the plugged wells in federal waters are also often ignored. States, especially California and Texas, have had to reseal a number of wells for environmental and safety purposes. The same wells in federal water would have been left unseen, their cracks and leaks hidden deep under water and paperwork.
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2010/08/no-one-paying-attention-to-27000-abandoned-oil-rigs-in-the-gulf.html

As a forceful reminder of the potential harm, the well beneath BP's Deepwater Horizon rig was being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment when it blew April 20, leading to one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation's history. BP alone has abandoned about 600 wells in the Gulf, according to government data.

There's ample reason for worry about all permanently and temporarily abandoned wells -- history shows that at least on land, they often leak. Wells are sealed underwater much as they are on land. And wells on land and in water face similar risk of failure. Plus, records reviewed by the AP show that some offshore wells have failed.

Asked in multiple requests over several weeks how often abandoned wells have failed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday -- as this story was being released -- that it has had to deal with leaks at abandoned wells in shallow state waters of Louisiana and Texas. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- which oversees wells in federal waters -- also acknowledged Tuesday that it has dealt with "a few" failed abandoned wells farther out in the Gulf. But the information was released only through the public affairs offices and neither agency provided experts for follow-up.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/07/gulf-awash-abandoned-oil-gas-wells/#ixzz1a73YrqVG

Abandonment and decommissioning of the offshore structures and their environmental impact
http://www.offshore-environment.com/decomlinks.html