Dismantling unused oil rigs could boost Louisiana's artificial reef program

By Richard Thompson

A month after the Interior Department ordered oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico to dismantle hundreds of production platforms that are no longer in use, many fishers, charter boat captains and conservationists are optimistic that some of the structures could be converted into artificial reefs, which they say would help protect the marine ecosystem.

"I think it needs to be addressed, as far as turning the platforms into artificial reefs, not only to sustain the fisheries themselves but to further enhance the fisheries," said Capt. Mike Frenette, president of the Venice Charter Boat and Guide Association, which is made up of charter boat captains from South Plaquemines Parish. 

The artificial reef program, which began under the Louisiana Fishing Enhancement Act in 1986, was established to take advantage of obsolete oil and gas platforms, which had provided habitat for many of the state's coastal fish and become well-known destinations for commercial and recreational fishers.

The program has also offered some financial benefit to the dozens of oil and gas companies that have participated. Turning a platform into a reef often offers a significant savings compared with the average $2 million cost of paying an oil-field services provider to do the work.

Through the program, state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials have developed 64 offshore reefs from the jackets of 259 out-of-work production platforms, said program coordinator Doug Peter. The impact of a recent slashing of the program's funds remains to be seen. The Louisiana Legislature recently sucked more than $18 million from the program to fund other needs in the state.

Still, some believe the number of platforms that could be turned into reefs could rise on the heels of the federal order, which brought renewed attention on existing regulations requiring oil and gas companies to set permanent plugs on non-producing wells and dismantle platforms that are no longer being used for exploration or production within a year after a lease has expired.

Read more...

Dinah Rogers, The Times-Picayune

Posted via email from