Experts explore best fate for O.C. oil rigs

As California's 27 coastal oil rigs — seven off of Orange County — reach the end of their useful existence, a new question has arisen: Should they stay or should they go?

Some say the rigs have become an important habitat for threatened fish, serving as artificial reefs and a hiding place from fishing. Others say rigs only move fish away from their natural habitat, while some fear the debate is skewed by oil companies looking to avoid costs. Ocean experts from around the nation with many different views discussed the issue on Friday at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in a conference called by Orange County Coastkeeper.

Coastkeeper Executive Director Garry Brown called the event a great success, adding that more than 200 people attended.

"Our goal was for people to end the day knowing a whole lot more on the subject," he said. "We weren't advocating any position. We made sure to bring in people who were diametrically opposed on the issues."

Keynote speaker Sylvia Earle, explorer in residence for the National Geographic Society, expressed qualified support for the idea, calling it a case-by-case issue.

"I'd say let them be," she said in a news release from the event. She added, however, that unintended consequences might kill fish as well, as did an old practice of leaving used tires in the ocean as habitat. Currents ultimately knocked the tires loose, and now they leave a path of destruction along the ocean floor.

The Gulf of Mexico has thousands of oil platforms, and Mexico has been decommissioning rigs in this way for 20 years, according to a news release by Orange County Coastkeeper.

Brown said it was a major issue for California, an issue the state will have to face soon.

"If this is going to happen, there's a window of opportunity," he said. "It's going to be highly contentious. That's great, have a good debate, but it has to be based in science."