The offshore drilling moratorium that is falling apart in court already contains one major loophole -- and there's little surprise which company is threading the needle.
BP plans to begin drilling two miles under the sea just miles away from a delicate wildlife reserve in Alaska. The company will get around the deep-water moratorium by constructing an artificial island -- 31 acres of gravel -- and registering as an onshore rig.
Not exactly the safest operation, reports Rolling Stone:
Here's what BP has in store for the Arctic: First, the company will drill two miles beneath its tiny island, which it has christened "Liberty." Then, in an ingenious twist, it will drill sideways for another six to eight miles, until it reaches an offshore reservoir estimated to hold 105 million barrels of oil. This would be the longest "extended reach" well ever attempted, and the effort has required BP to push drilling technology beyond its proven limits. As the most powerful "land-based" oil rig ever built, Liberty requires special pipe to withstand the 105,000 foot-pounds of torque — the equivalent of 50 Mack truck engines — needed to turn the drill. "This is about as sexy as it gets," a top BP official boasted to reporters in 2008. BP, a repeat felon subject to record fines for its willful safety violations, calls the project "one of its biggest challenges to date" — an engineering task made even more dangerous by plans to operate year-round in what the company itself admits is "some of the harshest weather on Earth."
Don't expect the White House to crack down on the loophole. Just the opposite: Ken Salazar said yesterday he would issue a new version of the moratorium that could include provisions to allow drilling in areas where reserves and risks are known.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-liberty-artificial-island-alaska-2010-6#ixzz1SqwKqqvg
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