“Photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard/Clean Gulf Associates via AP, a Clean Gulf Associates 95-foot response vessel skims crude oil approximately 4 miles southeast off South Pass Louisiana in 2023.”
Off the coasts of our country — in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific — thousands of rusting oil wells and decaying platforms sit like time bombs beneath the waves. Many of these sites have been abandoned for decades, left to leak oil, methane, heavy metals and other toxic chemicals into the waters that loggerhead sea turtles, whales and countless other marine creatures call home.
The basic principle is simple — if you make a mess, you clean it up. If you don’t, you lose the privilege to keep making the mess in the first place. Right now, more than 2,700 wells and 500 platforms in the Gulf are overdue for decommissioning. In the Pacific, around 100 unused wells still need permanent plugging. Every day that this rusting infrastructure remains in our waters, it threatens ocean ecosystems, coastal communities and the climate.
When fossil fuel companies abandon these sites, they pass the cost — and the risk — onto all of us. Taxpayers end up footing the bill for cleanup, local communities lose income from polluted fisheries and beaches, and wildlife pay the ultimate price in lost habitat, chronic contamination and deadly oil blowouts. Just this April, an 82-year-old unplugged well in Louisiana’s marshes spilled over 170,000 gallons of oil into waters where sea turtles forage and nest.
The oil and gas industry wants us to believe it’s acceptable to turn our ocean into a scrapyard. Some companies even argue that abandoned rigs make good reefs — a dangerous distraction that ignores how these structures can spread invasive species and leach toxins into the water column.
Our ocean is not a landfill. It is a living, breathing blue heart that sustains our climate, our communities and irreplaceable wildlife. When companies profit from drilling, they must also take responsibility for restoring what they’ve disturbed. Decommissioning these old wells and platforms isn’t just about removing hazards — it’s about creating good-paying, local jobs that restore our coasts, protect marine life and build a healthier future for generations to come.
At Turtle Island Restoration Network, we will continue to fight alongside our partners to ensure that the federal government holds oil and gas companies accountable. We will keep advocating for stronger enforcement of existing laws so that the fossil fuel industry can’t keep playing “hot potato” with aging, dangerous wells.
It’s time to stop giving new drilling permits to companies that treat our ocean like a dumping ground. It’s time to protect our waters, our wildlife and our coastal communities — and build an energy future that puts people and the planet before profit.
