Platform Hilda is special to me. We did a lot of diving photo-documenting the marine life and projects administered beneath her. She was easy to access: Located in only 106 feet of water, less than 1 mile from the Summerland, California Coast. Chevron USA had given us blanket permission to dive. She was decommissioned in 1996. Decommissioning is the process of plugging the wells, removing the rig and structure, and returning the marine environment to its original mud bottom.

Its too late for Platform Hilda, Hazel, Heidi and Hope. Their marine communities were towed to a land fill in 1996. Today, I am an advocate for the marine eco-system thriving on and around the jackets, the steel structures of the remaining platforms of the Santa Barbara Channel. Plug the wells, remove the equipment, leave the jacket: Preserve the marine life.