Platform Holly, offshore from Coal Oil Point has a troubled past and is not a profitable oil platform. Its owners walked away, leaving it a problem for the state of California to deal with since it is in state waters.
There have been public hearings on the process and what to do with the platform after decommissioning and capping the wells.
One group seems to hate oil companies so much that they want to remove everything, down to the seafloor. The problem I see with that is it involves killing millions of lives, both flora and fauna. Then if you count the future lives that would have grown on that underwater structure in the future, we are talking about the loss of thousands times millions of lives.
Oil platforms off California have proven to be among the most productive life-generating, as well as life-attracting reefs (either natural or artificial) in the world. We all want thriving oceans and global food security, so we need Platform Holly to remain and be home to millions of lives now and into the future.
My vision for Platform Holly, which sits between two Marine Protected Areas but is not within either one, is to reconstruct it to be a magnificent life-generator and haven for sea life, a resource for furthering scientific studies of marine life and ecosystems, a source for educational materials for all levels of school, and a reliable food-security resource.
The process begins as it already has, with decommissioning the platform and capping the wells. There is considerable debate and discussion about whether to remove all platform structure or cut it off far enough below the surface that it is not a navigation hazard for boat and ship traffic.
The vision I offer is to first augment the considerable structure of the lower portions by surrounding the legs with 400 specially designed reef units intended to maximize marine life. Those legs already sustain good populations of rockfish such as vermillion and copper rockfish plus lingcod, eels, groundfish and shellfish.
By creating an enhanced reef structure, the overall capacity to support populations of rockfish and other benthic life can be off the charts.
Rather than remove the top part of the structure, I want to repurpose it and restructure it to provide roosts for many hundreds of nesting seabirds to enhance their populations and give them safe space to have their nests and raise their babies.
At sea level, haulout havens can be engineered to provide for the needs of pinnipeds such as sea lions and harbor seals. As with most above-water structures, the guano from birds and other critters will make it an ideal habitat where ocean life thrives.
I envision the reef units and legs at the base being fitted with scientific monitoring devices and live-feed cameras so marine scientists like those at nearby UCSB’s Marine Sciences School can maintain testing programs over the long haul and further our understanding of ocean life and interactions.
I further envision gathering the data generated by the scientific monitoring devices and live-feed cameras and make it all available to teachers from kindergarten to post-graduate levels. Marine science students can learn to become educators by presenting this data and interpretations to students from grade school on up.
My vision is to make Platform Holly into a powerful marine life generator, a custom test and monitoring site and educational platform by feeding data and video into every classroom with an instructor who wants to teach about the value of a thriving ocean and how to make it a healthier environment for flora and fauna.
All the while, Holly also serves as a food security resource for anglers feeding their families.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
