Last January, the La Jolla Village News featured a story about two Scripps alumnae, Amber Jackson and Emily Callahan, who champion the concept of converting decommissioned oil rigs into sustainable reefs. Now, their research into the Rigs-to-Reef program, a part of Blue Latitudes, is gearing up for the premiere of a film documenting a recent trip to Malaysia, “Transecting Borneo,” on Saturday, April 14 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s, Sumner Auditorium from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Transecting Borneo” delves into what could be considered a perfect example of the Rigs-to-Reef ethos. In the film, the two marine biologists travel to Malaysia to dive from a converted rig that is now functioning as an eco-resort for divers, Seaventures Dive Rig. In addition to serving as both a residence and diving locale for guests, the resort is focused on limiting its environmental footprint by operating under a ‘minimum discharge’ policy,  regularly hosting cleanup dives and ensuring that all hand soap and chemicals used on the rig are environmentally safe.
The Rigs-to-Reef concept has seen great success in the Gulf of Mexico, with more than 500 rigs now serving as artificial reefs, the concept is not widely accepted by Californians. To combat this and gain traction in California, both Jackson and Callahan, along with Claire Gonzales working on the “back end,” piling through data collected by marine biologists, taking divers out to the platforms and sharing their research at various speaking events.
The state passed legislation specific to this notion in 2010, AB2503, which governs marine resources and preservation.
“While it is an important piece of legislation, we feel that it doesn’t do enough to resolve the issues surrounding the future of aging platforms off the California coastline,” said Callahan. “The biggest issue presented is the liability of the structure. In the Gulf of Mexico, when a platform is reefed, the structure becomes the liability of the state, under California’s current law, it is not clear who would maintain the liability of the structure.” It is important to note, however, that the oil companies will always maintain liability for the well itself in perpetuity. 
So why, two years later, is this an issue?
The question of how to best decommission California’s platforms came to a head this past year when Platform Holly, a Venoco-owned platform in Santa Barbara filed for bankruptcy. Platform Holly, which had not produced oil since May 19, 2015, when an onshore, underground line owned by Plains All American Pipeline spilled more than 120,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean, is the first platform eligible for decommissioning in California in more than 20 years.
As a result of Venoco’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, Venoco was forced to “quitclaim” their lease on Platform Holly and the surrounding Ellwood Oil Field, giving it back to the State Lands Commission. California is now responsible for decommissioning Platform Holly, using Venoco’s Ellwood Oil Fields leasing bond, a total of $22 million, to ensure the thorough extraction of the entire platform structure.
“Platform Holly is now the liability of the state, which means costs associated with decommissioning will affect taxpayers,” said Jackson. “California State Lands Commission is now tasked with planning what to do with decommissioned rigs within two-to-three years from now.”
According to Blue Latitudes’ website, Rig2ReefExploration.org, the decommissioning process begins when “the oil well is capped, and the upper 85 feet of the platform is either towed, toppled in place or removed.”
The site also adds that “Not all platforms are suitable as reefing candidates, and in order for any platform to be considered for reefing, it must first undergo extensive ecological evaluations…” While it may seem that this would pit this kind of program against major oil companies, the group has received praise for their work. And although it may seem that the decimation of coral reefs and our oceans has been catastrophic, they remain optimistic. “Oceans are incredibly resilient places,” said Gonzales. “Our work aims to find an area of compromise between industry, science and the public.”