Moratorium Won’t Stop Unprecedented BP Project in the Arctic

A land drilling rig on a man-made gravel island in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska. (Minerals Management Service, now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement)

The Obama administration’s six-month moratorium has put a freeze on new offshore drilling permits, but three miles off the coast of Alaska, there’s one unprecedented drilling project by BP that’s still moving forward regardless.

That’s according to two investigations this week—one in today’s New York Times <1> and the other published online by Rolling Stone <2> on Tuesday.

The pieces both drilled down on a project by BP called “Liberty,” a project in the Arctic for which BP has built an artificial island made of gravel—which according to the company and regulators, qualifies it as “onshore,” and not subject to the offshore drilling moratorium.

The project is considered risky by some engineers because it involves drilling two miles into the gravel island and then drilling sideways several miles more to reach a 100-million-barrel oil reservoir. Rolling Stone noted that it would be “the longest ‘extended reach’ well ever attempted <2>, and the effort has required BP to push drilling technology beyond its proven limits.”

More: http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/moratorium-wont...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/24rig.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/120130

and say no drilling baby

Liberty is an extension of an existing drilling island (Endicott SDI).

Do I understand this. They make islands out of gravel and then drill through that same gravel to get to the seabed? If that's it, why?

If they make a large enough find they come back and make the island. Half of the islands are already there, like this one, they just expand them.
The reason they build them out of gravel is because the water is not very deep. Ten maybe fifteen feet deep, so it is cheaper to build them out of gravel then bring in steel platforms. The other reason is ice flows. With a gravel pad you don't have to worry too much about ice destroying it.

Years ago they had a huge floating concrete island they would drill with but they would have encase it in ice to keep the ice flows from pushing it around.

The article said they drill 2 miles into the gravel, which is where I got confused.

project anyone could possibly cook up. Imagine the Gulf catastrophe in Alaska with several feet of ice covering it while it gushes for months on end. Probably years on end. I can't imagine how anyone with half a conscience could rubber stamp this adventure.

who will stamp anything for their big oil buddies.

The MMS may have been 'disbanded' but a lot of the people from BushCo are still holding key positions.

If it goes all the way up to the Supreme Court, there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that they'll, ultimately, side with the Federal judge, who is Scalia's best buddy and tennis partner.

Scary info about the judge, thanks. It's also a reminder that staying home for elections has dire consequences considering the advanced age of many SC justices.

in the moratorium, I believe.