A bill to require the Secretary of the Interior to annually submit to Congress, and make publicly available on a website, a report on decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines, and for other purposes.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would require the Secretary of the Interior — the head of the federal agency that oversees public lands and offshore energy — to prepare and submit an annual report to Congress about the process of decommissioning offshore oil and gas infrastructure. "Decommissioning" refers to the process of safely shutting down, removing, or permanently sealing oil and gas wells, platforms (like drilling rigs), and pipelines that are no longer in use in ocean waters. The report would also be made available to the public on a government website.

The bill is primarily aimed at increasing transparency and Congressional oversight around what happens to old or abandoned offshore oil and gas equipment. Currently, there are thousands of wells, platforms, and pipelines in U.S. offshore waters — particularly in the Gulf of Mexico — that are aging or no longer producing, and the process of safely removing or sealing them carries significant environmental and financial implications. By requiring regular, public reporting, the bill would give lawmakers and ordinary citizens better visibility into how this process is being managed.

The people most directly affected would include federal officials responsible for managing offshore energy, oil and gas companies that operate in federal waters, coastal communities and states near offshore infrastructure, and environmental advocates concerned about ocean health. Taxpayers could also have a stake, since the government can sometimes bear decommissioning costs if a company fails to meet its obligations. The bill has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for further review.