US NGO the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued the US Interior Department last Thursday for what it claims is an ongoing failure to examine the harms from offshore oil and gas drilling infrastructure the oil industry has not decommissioned.
In the Gulf of Mexico, more than 2,700 wells and nearly 500 platforms were overdue for decommissioning, which requires plugging wells and removing platforms or other equipment, as of June 2023. Inactive wells and platforms may represent a risk of oil spills, methane leaks and explosions.
US law requires that offshore oil and gas operators permanently plug wells, remove platforms and restore the seafloor environment once leases expire or infrastructure has been inactive for a certain period of time.
"Recent Government Accountability Office reports revealed that oil companies do not decommission wells within the deadlines," said CBD. "The investigations also found that Interior has been permitting decommissioning-in-place without adequately studying or minimizing the risks posed by this old equipment."
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Washington DC, claims federal agencies have violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider new information and changed circumstances showing that delayed decommissioning puts people and the environment at risk.
"Nearly 600 idle wells in the Gulf have not even been temporarily plugged to prevent leaks before decommissioning," added CBD. "More than 800 idle wells have been unused for more than a decade."
