In the early 1980s, there were over 4,000 oil, gas and sulfur production platforms in the northern and western Gulf. However, over the last 25 years, that number has been cut by 60 percent. In the next decade, as many as 700 more of the 1,550 or so remaining rigs could be removed as well. 

Fortunately, there is new bipartisan legislation in Congress aimed at protecting these rigs-turned-reefs. Introduced by Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Rep. Marc Veasy (D-TX), the Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act - H.R. 6814 – would change federal law and policy to require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to examine the Gulf’s artificial reefs and associated fisheries while encouraging more participation in the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s Rigs-to-Reefs Program.   

Write your Representative today and ask them to support the Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act.