H.R. 5745: Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act

Right now, when an offshore oil or gas platform stops producing, the default expectation is full removal — tear it down, haul it to shore, scrap it. That process costs $15 to $20 million per platform on average. But marine biologists have known for decades that these structures become thriving ecosystems. A typical eight-leg platform provides habitat for 12,000 to 14,000 fish and two to three acres of reef for hundreds of marine species.

Gulf states have been running rigs-to-reefs programs since the late 1980s. Louisiana leads with over 350 platforms converted, followed by Texas with 140+, and smaller programs in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. But the federal framework governing these conversions — the National Fishing Enhancement Act of 1984 — predates the modern rigs-to-reefs movement and never anticipated using oil infrastructure as reef material.

H.R. 5745 rewrites that law from the ground up. It creates a step-by-step process: an operator files a Notice of Intent to Reef, triggering a 180-day window for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to begin an ecological assessment. That assessment — which evaluates localized corals, fish species, and the economic value of keeping the structure versus replacing it with equivalent artificial material — should be completed within one year. Within 60 days of the assessment, the BSEE Director decides whether the structure qualifies as "eligible." If it does, the operator has up to three years to complete the reefing.

Before final approval, the bill requires that all wells are permanently plugged, hydrocarbons and hazardous liquids removed, navigational markers installed, and liability transferred to a participating state agency. That liability transfer is the deal’s linchpin: once a state accepts a structure into its reef program, the operator walks away clean and the state assumes all future responsibility.

The financial incentive is explicit. States receive up to 50% of the cost savings the operator gains from reefing instead of removing. If full removal would have cost $20 million and reefing costs $4 million, the state could receive up to $8 million for its reef management program. The bill also halts federal removal orders while an application is pending — up to a year during the initial notice period, 18 months during assessment, and three years after an eligibility determination.

The bill has already advanced further than most. The House Natural Resources Committee held a legislative hearing with testimony from Dr. Greg Stunz of the Harte Research Institute, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. It is endorsed by the American Sportfishing Association, Coastal Conservation Association, International Game Fish Association, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.