Sponsors (4)
The bill improves transparency and regulatory oversight of offshore decommissioning—helping communities, regulators, and the public—while imposing administrative costs on agencies and risks of higher operator costs that could be passed to consumers.
The public and energy companies gain regular, public annual reports on offshore decommissioning (including enforcement and noncompliance), increasing transparency and accountability.
Regulators and lawmakers (state and local) can monitor enforcement and compliance trends from the reports, enabling more effective oversight and potential policy or enforcement fixes.
Communities near offshore infrastructure (including rural/local governments) receive better information about decommissioning status to inform safety, environmental planning, and local decision-making.
The Department of the Interior and BSEE will incur additional administrative and compliance costs to produce and manage the required reporting, potentially requiring budget increases or diverting staff time.
Making enforcement and noncompliance data public may increase legal and reputational risk for operators, which could raise insurance or decommissioning costs that are ultimately passed on to consumers and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Interior Secretary to publish an annual public report (first due within two years) on offshore decommissioning, including application counts, late decommissionings, in‑place approvals, pipeline lengths, and enforcement status.
Requires the Secretary of the Interior to publish a public annual report (first due within two years of enactment) on decommissioning of offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines. The report must follow the decommissioning definition in the applicable regulation and include counts of required and received applications, counts of late decommissionings, approvals to decommission in place, lengths of pipelines decommissioned in place or removed, and the status of enforcement actions by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
Introduced March 26, 2026 by Peter Welch · Last progress March 26, 2026