damning federal report requires that biden tighten reins on big oil

The Healthy Ocean Coalition is part of the Protect Our Coasts Coalition, which works to hold the federal government’s feet to the fire on halting all new offshore oil and gas exploration and development. The Coalition released this statement last week on a new federal report. Our statement, included here reads:

“We know how financially and ecologically expensive it can be when aging and unsafe oil and gas wells and platforms are not properly decommissioned”, said Sarah Winter Whelan, Executive Director of the Healthy Ocean Coalition. “While Big Oil continuously complains about needing new leases for exploration, they continue to shirk their responsibility to take care of the infrastructure they no longer use. Yet the ultimate responsibility lies with the federal government to ensure the oil and gas industry fulfills these obligations. This GAO report highlights the government’s failure to meet this responsibility, and requires that the Biden Administration tighten the reins on Big Oil to protect the ocean and coastal communities.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Date: February, 23, 2024

Press Contact: Lauren Lantry, laurenlantry@team-arc.com 

Protect All Our Coasts Coalition Responds to GAO Report Criticizing Poor Enforcement of Decommissioning of Aging Offshore Infrastructure

Damning Report Calls for More Enforcement of Oil and Gas Industry’s Aging Infrastructure

Washington, DC – On February 20, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released a critical report on the Department of the Interior’s failure to adequately enforce oil and gas industry’s obligations to decommission aging offshore oil and gas wells and platforms in public waters. Over time, infrastructure becomes increasingly vulnerable to damage and deterioration from storms and corrosion, which can topple platforms, cause oil spills, and make decommissioning more expensive and dangerous. Delayed decommissioning compounds these environmental, safety, and financial risks.

• Since the 1940s, the offshore oil and gas industry has drilled more than 55,000 wells and installed more than 7,000 platforms in federally managed waters on the outer continental shelf, nearly all of which have been in the Gulf of Mexico.  

• Nearly half of the approximately 8,000 wells and 1,600 platforms remaining offshore are approaching or past the end of their useful life, according to Interior.

• The Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is not ensuring that industry operators meet decommissioning deadlines, leading to a significant backlog in decommissioning with over 40 percent of wells and 50 percent of platforms on Gulf leases that ended between 2010 and 2022 missing the BSEE’s 1-year decommissioning deadline. 

• Over 75 percent of end-of-lease and idle infrastructure in the Gulf was overdue under BSEE’s deadlines as of June 2023, representing over 2,700 wells and 500 platforms.

• BOEM held about $3.5 billion in supplemental bonds to cover between $40 billion and $70 billion in total estimated decommissioning costs as of June 2023 leaving taxpayers exposed to billions of dollars in financial risks if operators fail to meet their obligations.

In response to the release of the Government Accountability Office’s report, these organizations have released the following statements:

“The GAO’s report is an absolutely scathing indictment of the federal government’s failure to make sure that oil companies safely decommission aging offshore wells and platforms,” said Miyoko Sakashita, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Oceans program. “I’m appalled that the industry has blown its deadline for thousands of wells and that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is doing virtually nothing about this huge and growing threat. I can’t imagine more powerful evidence that the oil industry can’t be trusted to follow even the most basic rules to protect ocean wildlife and coastal communities.” 

“The GAO report highlights what those of us watching this issue have long known: the fossil fuel industry is treating the ocean like their own personal junkyard, and government oversight isn’t stopping them,” said Andrew Hartsig, Senior Director of Ocean Conservancy’s Arctic conservation program and an expert in oil and gas policy. “Not only does ineffective oversight and regulation harm our ocean, but it also hurts taxpayer’s wallets when oil operators declare bankruptcy and leave clean up costs to be borne by the public. It’s evident that the fossil fuel industry will not act on their own, and we hope to see the Biden Administration and Congress take strong action in response to this report.”

“Private companies are making billions in private profits off of public resources on the Outer Continental Shelf; and they are leaving the public to deal with the trash,” said Megan Biven with True Transition. “The GAO report describes a Wild West regulatory environment and the Sheriff is unarmed. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement requires blunter enforcement tools such as: operator disqualification which would ban a company from acquiring new leases either through lease sale or transfer, suspension of other operations until decommissioning obligations are met, and a red-light civil penalty process. True Transition has advocated Interior to take over leases of non compliant companies to also fund decommissioning.” 

"Delaying decommissioning is risky business--from environmental, safety, and financial perspectives. The oil and gas industry, not taxpayers, should be on the hook for cleaning up their abandoned wells and platforms,” said Sarah Guy, Executive Director of Ocean Defense Initiative. “We need the Biden Administration and Congress to take strong action on enforcement rather than letting oil and gas companies continue to play fast and loose on our public waters." 

“We already knew that we can’t trust fossil fuel companies to be good stewards of our ocean,“ said Becca Loomis, an attorney in the oceans program at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “This report shows that companies have continuously failed to live up to even their most basic obligations to clean up their mess, despite reaping huge profits. The burden should not be on taxpayers to foot the bill for well cleanup. BOEM needs to require strong financial assurances so we can charge companies the real cost of doing business in our ocean.” 

“We know how financially and ecologically expensive it can be when aging and unsafe oil and gas wells and platforms are not properly decommissioned”, said Sarah Winter Whelan, Executive Director of the Healthy Ocean Coalition. “While Big Oil continuously complains about needing new leases for exploration, they continue to shirk their responsibility to take care of the infrastructure they no longer use. Yet the ultimate responsibility lies with the federal government to ensure the oil and gas industry fulfills these obligations. This GAO report highlights the government’s failure to meet this responsibility, and requires that the Biden Administration tighten the reins on Big Oil to protect the ocean and coastal communities.”

“As this report makes clear, the oil industry has been allowed to operate with minimal accountability and financial responsibility in our public waters, despite years of reckless mistakes," said Earthjustice attorney Ava Ibanez Amador. "Paradoxically, frontline communities, vulnerable marine life, and taxpayers have footed the bill for the oil industry's unacceptable behavior. This urgently needs to change with regulations that protect the public's interests."