Hundreds of oil platforms are rusting in Louisiana waters. The state doesn't track them.

BLACK BAY — The anonymous log, found months later in an oil platform’s living quarters, documented a worker’s tasks: He pumped oil, cleaned sludge and repaired the structure.

Then, abruptly: “Shutting in field prepping to leave Wednesday morning. We have red or orange flagging tape on every valve that we closed,” reads an entry dated Feb. 6, 2024.

Now, the platform sits rusting and empty in the waters of Black Bay, northeast of Buras, just one of at least 879 offshore structures abandoned in Louisiana’s state waters, according to a new analysis by True Transition . The nonprofit compiled its report after discovering a gap in state data: While Louisiana tracks oil wells, it does not track the platforms built to service them.

Using satellite images from Skytruth, another environmenta