{"id":29076,"date":"2021-02-09T16:44:06","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T16:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=29076"},"modified":"2021-02-09T16:44:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T16:44:06","slug":"new-use-for-abandoned-oil-rigs-become-offshore-reefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=29076","title":{"rendered":"New use for abandoned oil rigs: Become offshore reefs!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>As offshore oil and gas platforms come to the end of their working lives, one way in which these old rigs can be remarkably useful is that the subsurface rig can provide the ideal skeleton for coral reefs, allowing the remarkable ecosystems beneath the waves come into their own.<\/h3>\n

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\u2026 more than 12,000 offshore oil and gas platforms worldwide\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2026 big question is what to do with these enormous structures\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2026 subsurface rig provides the ideal skeleton for coral reefs\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

The BBC writes:<\/p>\n

The grey steel girders of Platform Holly rise 235ft (72m) above the waters of the Pacific Ocean, just a couple of miles off the Santa Barbara coast. Above the water, this decommissioned oil rig is dull and lifeless, but the view below the surface is very different. Beneath the waves, colourful fish, crabs, starfish and mussels congregate on the huge steel pylons, which stretch for more than 400ft (120m) to the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

There are\u00a0more than 12,000 offshore oil and gas platforms<\/a>\u00a0worldwide. As they drain their reservoirs of fossil fuels below the sea, they eventually become defunct when they produce too little fuel for extraction to be profitable to their operators.<\/p>\n

The big question is what to do with these enormous structures when the fossil fuels stop flowing. With\u00a0curbing climate change rising up the international agenda<\/a>, and with some questioning whether we have\u00a0already passed peak oil, hastened by the coronavirus pandemic<\/a>, the number of defunct rigs in the ocean is set to get bigger. Removing them from the water is\u00a0incredibly expensive and labour-intensive<\/a>. Allowing them to rust and fall into disrepair is an environmental risk that could seriously damage marine ecosystems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“For some species, offshore rigs are even better nurseries than natural reefs. The towering pylons are the perfect spawning grounds for tiny fish larvae.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But there is one way in which these old rigs can be remarkably useful: the subsurface rig provides the ideal skeleton for coral reefs. Teeming with fish and other wildlife, offshore rigs like Platform Holly are in fact the most bountiful human-made marine habitats in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The practice of transforming rigs into reefs in the United States dates back almost 40 years. In 1984, the US Congress signed the\u00a0National Fishing Enhancement Act<\/a> which recognised the benefits artificial reefs provided and encouraged states to draw up plans to turn defunct rigs into reefs. The five coastal states on the Gulf of Mexico \u2013 Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas \u2013 all have rigs-to-reefs programmes and have converted more than 500 oil and gas platforms into artificial reefs….<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Californians are very opposed to offshore oil and gas and many of them want their coastline and view free of those structures,” says Kristen Hislop, a marine conservationist at the Environmental Defense Center, an advocacy group based in the Santa Barbara region, where there are 20 platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It’s not hard to see why some are reluctant. The extraction and burning of fossil fuels including oil and gas are major drivers of climate change. Overall, in 2019,\u00a0gas made up 21% and oil 34% of the world\u2019s CO2 emissions from fuel<\/a>, with a significant proportion coming from offshore rigs like these and thousands of others.<\/p>\n

But the objections are not just symbolic. There are concerns that the cost savings offered to oil companies under the rigs-to-reefs programme could encourage them to expand, Hislop notes….<\/p>\n

“California platforms are some of the largest and deepest in the world,” says Hazelwood [Marine scientist]. “You don’t even see the beams, they are so encrusted with marine wildlife.”<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As offshore oil and gas platforms come to the end of their working lives, one way in which these old rigs can be remarkably useful is that the subsurface rig can provide the ideal skeleton for coral reefs, allowing the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29078,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29076\/revisions\/29078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}