It’s been nearly a year since the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program (GRP) visited the site of the well #59 blowout in Plaquemines Parish. Well #59, an abandoned oil well that was not permanently plugged, spilled 9,400 gallons of oil into the Mississippi River Delta in April of 2025. Following its visit, the GRP initiated an integrated effort to address the ongoing and complex challenges of legacy energy infrastructure in the Gulf region. 

The first step was to establish a community of practice. In its initial meeting, the GRP convened state representatives alongside public and private partners that could lend expertise in addressing abandoned and orphaned wells and help define the potential scale of impact. Representatives from organizations like the Railroad Commission of Texas, Chevron, Louisiana State University, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority came together to share their experiences, hopes, and struggles in confronting the economic, environmental, and political realities of this growing problem. From that meeting, the GRP identified a prioritized list of next steps to guide future programming.  

However, before anyone can address the environmental, climatic, or economic damage from leaks and spills caused by aging infrastructure, states need to know the scale of the issue. To address this, the GRP recently opened a funding opportunity to develop mapping and risk assessment tools as well as frameworks for cross-state policy analysis. These tools aim to provide state agencies, government representatives, nonprofits, researchers, and decision-makers with consolidated data on the location and risk profiles of abandoned and orphaned wells.  

In parallel, the GRP’s fellowship arm is supporting early-career researchers to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including pathways for their safe decommissioning or repurposing. This fellowship will bring in new voices, innovative research, and additional data to supplement the developing community of practice.   

In addition, as part of its efforts to fund innovative, actionable solutions to complex challenges, the GRP recently awarded $20 million through the Gulf Futures Challenge to the Gulf Offshore Research Institute (GORI) to reimagine the future use of deep-water oil platforms. With this award, GORI will carry out research and demonstrate the repurposing of idle offshore oil and gas infrastructure to conserve marine habitat and enable a transition to green hydrogen, open ocean aquaculture, continuous data acquisition, and critical mineral harvesting. 

The issues presented by legacy infrastructure are not restricted to the Gulf. Many communities that once prospered from oil and gas production are now left with the economic and environmental ramifications of maintaining aging infrastructure, while simultaneously struggling to keep up with an ever-evolving energy landscape. 

The scale of aging oil and gas infrastructure is massive, and the coordinated effort and investment to address this issue needs to match that scale. Through its integrated approach, the GRP is developing a methodology for understanding risk, outlining potential impacts of aging infrastructure, and prioritizing next steps in the Gulf. This methodology can be scaled up and utilized to address these growing issues and envision new futures for the Gulf region and the nation.  

America’s energy ecosystem plays a vital role in our national security and economic prosperity. Properly managing our energy infrastructure, both new and old, is key in ensuring a resilient future for the country.