An old offshore oil rig. Credit: Kate Scott via Shutterstock.

A non-profit organisation is suing the US Government for its “failure to examine” the risks of not decommissioning offshore oil and gas drilling equipment, increasing the risks for both humans and marine wildlife.

The Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday sued the US Interior Department, citing environmental and safety risks including oil spills, methane leaks and explosions. 

“We now know the oil industry isn’t properly dealing with its mess, and federal agencies have ignored these risks for years,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the centre. 

As of June 2023, more than 2,700 wells and nearly 500 platforms were overdue for decommissioning in the Gulf of Mexico.  

This involves plugging wells and removing platforms or other equipment. If companies did not follow the process by the set deadlines, the government would normally bear the financial burden of clearing up abandoned wells. 

For example, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement requested $30m from Congress in fiscal year 2024 to help fund service contracts for decommissioning abandoned infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, the Government Accountability Office reported. 

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Monsell said that the department “needs to look hard at how old leaky wells, rusty platforms, and corroding pipelines put the ocean ecosystem at constant risk of spills and other harms”.  

She added that private companies “shouldn’t be allowed to make huge amounts of money drilling in public waters and then leave a wasteland for taxpayers”.  

Recent GAO reports uncovered that oil companies are not meeting the deadlines for well decommissioning. The investigations also revealed that the Interior Department has been permitting decommissioning in place without adequately studying or minimising the risks posed by this old equipment. 

The Biden administration’s law mandates 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 specific period.  

Adding to the pressure on the government, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in mid June to halt the Biden administration’s proposed rule.  

This rule would force the offshore oil and gas industry to provide almost $7bn in financial assurances to cover the cost of dismantling old infrastructure.