Louisiana senator joins campaign to let toppled GoM jacket remain as reef

The fate of a hurricane-toppled platform jacket in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) has become a political issue after a Louisiana senator urged the Department of the Interior not to require its removal because it is serving as an artificial reef.

US Senator David Vitter has written to Sally Jewell, Interior Department secretary, asking her to let the platform stay where it is even though the structure, blown over by Hurricane Ike in 2008, is not an official reefing site under the Rigs to Reefs program.
“Decommissioned, idle platforms that develop into artificial reefs are becoming an indispensable resource for aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico,” wrote Vitter.

“While this particular site has yet to obtain official status as an artificial reef site, the thriving ecosystem that has grown around it is already playing an important role in growing and sustaining our Gulf fisheries. The Administration should back off and allow it to prosper.”

Currently, Interior is mandating the removal of the Freeport McMoRan Oil & Gas’s Ewing Banks 947A, which is a 4-pile structure located in federal waters 70 miles offshore at a depth of 477 feet.

The affair began in May this year when the State of Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife & Fisheries asked the Interior Department to exempt 947A from being removed so it can remain as a habitat for marine life.

The matter was handed to the regulator, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), who denied the request, saying it was too risky.

Allowing toppled structures into the Rigs to Reefs program “introduces too many ‘unknowns’ and risks for which our agency will be responsible,” BSEE wrote in response, “especially since we are officially ‘waiving’ a regulatory requirement to allow the material to remain in the marine environment.”

“By not allowing toppled facilities into the Rigs to Reefs program,” BSEE wrote, “BSEE can eliminate several problematic uncertainties related to site contamination and instability issues, and avoid the appearance of impropriety associated with a de-facto “ocean dumping” program.”

“Based on our data of the site,” the regulator concluded, “the risks associated with leaving the structure in place outweigh the risks of total removal.”

In his letter of 25 August, Senator Vitter effectively bypassed BSEE and asked Secretary Jewell to give a “full and detailed reasoning” for the request’s denial, and for a list of “alternative means” Louisiana could pursue in keeping the toppled structure in place.

“Since its collapse,” he wrote, “parts of the structure, including the deck and debris have been removed, with only the jacket and several stubs remaining. While the inadvertent toppling of the structure is regrettable, one positive outcome has been the increase in marine life that has begun using it as a habitat.”

In May last year Vitter introduced S. 1079, the Artificial Reef Promotion Act, which would increase the utilization of decommissioned Gulf platforms as artificial reefs, as part of the Rigs to Reefs program.

The Artificial Reef Promotion Act requires that twenty new reef planning areas be established after a year of enactment, including six off each of the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, three off the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, and five off of the coast of Florida.