How do you drill a well in waters where the US Government has told you that you can't because it's dangerous off shore drilling ... and you're the very Oil Corp that has proven it can't be trusted?
Easy! Move Off Shore ... to On Shore!
British Petroleum is back. The 2 inches of oil polluting the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico hasn't even settled and already they're finding new ways to outrage Americans.
It was an email from Greenpeace that alerted me to this news item which has gone under the radar for some time. If you can even fathom the balls it takes for perhaps the most hated company stateside, BP has devised a clever way to skirt the moratorium on offshore drilling ... by creating a gravel island in the Pacific Ocean, planting a drill rig on it and declaring it dry land.
Our own little oily Dubai-like Corporate Whore-Made island right off the shore of the Alaskan Wilderness.
Here's Greenpeace's plea:
Dear (Detroit Mark):
Right now the only thing standing between BP and its next big drilling disaster is the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. BP built a gravel drilling island three miles off Alaska’s north coast and classified the Liberty drilling project as "onshore," thereby dodging the recent moratorium on offshore drilling in the arctic waters off Alaska. BP calls Liberty one of its "biggest challenges to date," and if it moves forward, the company will push the limits of drilling in Alaska’s Arctic, just as it pushed the limits of deepwater drilling in the Gulf with the Deepwater Horizon.
Urge Interior Secretary Salazar to stop BP's next drilling disaster before it even happens!
TAKE ACTION!!!
What BP is proposing is crazy. The company’s current plan calls for a well to be drilled that extends two miles below the seabed and then six to eight miles sideways to get at the oil they believe lies below federal waters in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. It’s a disaster waiting to happen in a place where it’s simply impossible to respond to and clean up a large oil spill.
Allowing the company responsible for the worst oil spill in US history to attempt such a risky drilling project in the ice-infested waters of Alaska is the true definition of insanity repeating the same mistakes yet expecting different results. Take action now and ask Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to stop BP from moving forward with Liberty.
It took BP more than three months to end the gusher in the Gulf, and the region will be feeling the effects of the nearly 5 million barrels of oil that were spilled for decades to come. Alaska’s arctic marine environment is even more fragile than the Gulf of Mexico, and moreover, BP lacks adequate response assets in this remote part of the state where darkness, intense cold and storms, and solid or broken sea ice are the norm for much of the year. It’s no wonder the US Coast Guard called an oil spill in Arctic waters a "nightmare scenario."
BP’s own analysis says there’s an eight percent chance of a large oil spill at Liberty. Would you get onto a plane if the pilot told you there was an eight percent chance of it crashing? Didn’t think so.
BP has already built Liberty Island and has received all of its permits except for one the federal government’s final sign off on BP’s "application for a permit to drill." Secretary Salazar can deny this final permit, urge him to stop BP’s next big drilling disaster now.
Sincerely,
Melanie Duchin
Arctic Program Director