Why not a used or abandoned oil rig?
While there have been successful social movements born from squatting (Christiania comes quickly to mind), we find efforts that don’t include legal title unattractive for many of the reasons in the FAQ entry “Why not just hide?” Rightful owners, or the coastal state, may re-assert their rights – especially if the squatting is successful. At least one nonprofit, the Gulf Coast Preservation Society (link), has a donated oil rig. The donor gets both tax writeoffs and the savings of not having to pay for decommissioning. A used or donated oil rig, if the structure is in safe condition, might be a good place to conduct scientific research. There are some disadvantages, however. Artificial islands and installations such as oil rigs are all in EEZs, where they are under the legal jurisdiction of the coastal state. So there is no political freedom to be had there. And much of the scientific work we’d like to do is explicitly regulated within the EEZ, such as marine research, energy generation,
