California’s offshore oil rigs are decades old, and industry resists decommissioning them

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Oil spills are likely to increase as fossil fuel use tapers, and oil companies put off upgrades to aging infrastructure, experts say.

— is a harrowing reminder of what’s at risk when our beaches become fouled with oil.

With little financial or regulatory incentive to shut down these structures, this hodgepodge of lesser-known corporations now operating the majority of platforms and pipelines is seemingly dug-in — eking out the last remaining oil and gas from wells that are past their prime. Oakley also pointed out that small owners are subject to the same oversight and rules as corporate giants.contracted by the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, it would cost more than $1.6 billion to decommission the 23 platforms in federal waters — which includes capping the wells, dismantling the platforms and pipelines, and disposing of the waste. Overall, that’s a 11.5% increase in cost from the bureau’s 2016 estimate.

Chevron Corp., the original developer of the platform, ultimately bore the brunt of decommissioning costs. However, it noted in afiled with the U.S. Department of the Interior that the company’s obligations did not pertain to wells drilled after April 1999, when the company sold the platform to Venoco.

Federal investigators have issued 125 noncompliance violations to Beta Operating, including two that resulted in fines due to injuries to workers.Amplify Energy’s CEO has offered information that conflicts with federal records and provided vague responses to questions at news conferences. “So that’s where you see a lot of the really bright and shiny platforms and infrastructure — and newer technologies. And in places like the coast of California, what you see is the same infrastructure that was there 40 years ago — just rustier.”In just the last year, more than 200 suspected oil spills have been captured by satellites in the Gulf of Mexico — ranging in size from roughly .

It’s a problem, said both Valentine and Richard Steiner, an Anchorage-based oil spill expert, that is only going to get worse.

 

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Holy cow if the money in the U.S. budget had been spent wisely 30 years ago,the oil rigs wouldn't be toast.

Hi wowwo

The only alternative, make them!

Ah, Big Oil’s eternal greed.

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