Past Projects: Oil and Gas Platform Decommissioning Study  |  Plastic Marine Debris

Oil and gas platforms off the Santa Barbara coast

Oil and Gas Platform Decommissioning Study

Completed and released in June 2010, the Oil and Gas Platform Decommissioning Study represents OST's first steps into coordinating scientific and technical reports.

California's Oil and Gas Platforms

At present, there are 27 oil and gas platforms off the California coast that will reach the end of their productive lives over the next two decades. The existing leases require that the platforms be dismantled and removed by the oil companies that own them. However, past decommissioning experience and research have demonstrated that full removal is a complicated and challenging process with a host of potential environmental impacts.

About the Study

Drawing on such venerable models as the National Academies, OST managed the production of an authoritative review of all existing scientific, financial, and legal information on various options for platform decommissioning. The final report, entitled "Evaluating Alternatives for Decommissioning California's Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms: A Technical Analysis to Inform State Policy," is an objective reference that allows state officials to weigh for themselves the myriad of tradeoffs associated with decommissioning alternatives. The study also includes PLATFORM, an interactive tool for managers and the public to investigate the costs and implications of specific decommissioning projects.

Informing the State Debate

Upon its release, the study was featured during a two-day OPC Meeting held in Santa Barbara (June 24-25, 2010). OST worked alongside the OPC to coordinate a two-part panel on (1) the findings of the report, and (2) stakeholder perspectives on platform decommissioning.

The study was subsequently used to inform AB 2503, state legislation sponsored by Speaker John A. Pérez, on platform decommissioning and converting decommissioned platforms to artificial reefs. AB 2503 was passed by the legislature, and signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in late September 2010.

Finally, in January 2012 OST provided upon the request of staff in the state legislature a memo summarizing the study’s findings with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, including the implications and limitations, and avenues of further inquiry and analysis.

Full Transparency

The project was funded jointly by the California Ocean Protection Council, Chevron Corporation, Ocean Conservancy, The Sportfishing Conservancy, and the United Anglers.

For details about the independent process that OST designed and implemented to create the report: Oil and Gas Platform Decommissioning Study Process. For Frequently Asked Questions about this report and study: Frequently Asked Questions.

    To download, use, and learn more about the PLATFORM model:

  • Download free Analytica 4.2 Player
  • Download the PLATFORM model (Right click and choose option "save as." The file will save to your computer and you can open using Analytica 4.2.)
  • Read PLATFORM User Guide

To learn more about the multi-attribute decision analysis used in PLATFORM, please read Appendix 5 of the final report.

For further details contact Emily Knight, Program Manager

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Pacific gyre, Algalita Marine Research Foundation

Plastic Debris in the Marine Environment

Marine debris is defined as any persistent manmade object discarded, disposed of, or abandoned that enters the coastal or marine environment. In recent years, the accumulation of debris in convergence zones within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre have garnered much attention under the media-generated label, "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." However, marine debris and its impacts are not isolated to distant parts of the Pacific Ocean. Research shows, for example, that there are significant deposits of small, or micro-plastic debris accumulating in various amounts along California's shoreline. This is a problem for a state like California, which boasts a multibillion-dollar tourism industry oriented around its scenic coast.


Report Background

The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) has prioritized the issue of marine debris, and is committed to finding solutions aimed at reducing ocean and coastal debris and its impacts on ecosystems. A significant percentage of marine debris, up to 80% in some places, is plastic, and scientific estimates for the degradation time of plastics in the ocean are on the order of hundreds to thousands of years. Thus the OPC commissioned an independent synthesis of scientific information to serve as a place-marker for the current state of research on plastic debris in California's marine environment.

OST partnered with USC Sea Grant, a known leader on the topic of water quality, to produce this report. The author, with a Master's degree in marine toxicology and training in science communication, was tasked with writing an accessible summary of the latest scientific research on the sources, pathways, impacts and fate of plastics in California's coastal and marine environment, including an emerging field of research: the toxicology of plastics in seawater. The final report, entitled "Plastic Debris in the California Marine Ecosystem: A Summary of Current Research, Solution Efforts and Data Gaps," is now available.

For the Full Report and Related Materials:

For further details contact Emily Knight, Program Manager