Hundreds of aging oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are decommissioned each year. While federal regulations demand that these rigs be dismantled once they are no longer operational, more and more rigs are now being left behind to serve as artificial reefs where sea life can flourish after the drilling process is over. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the federal agency that regulates offshore oil and gas operations, reported that 43 retired platforms had been converted into artificial reefs between 2017 and 2020 through its Rigs-to-Reefs program . That brought the total number of converted structures in the Gulf past 500. These aren't temporary fixes. Once a jacket's drilling days are over, toppling its steel lattice structure in place, or partially submerging it, turns it into a permanent underwater habitat.
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