Government Endorses Offshore Drilling in Alaska’s Federal Waters-

This fall, BP plans to involve itself in yet another potentially hazardous oil exploit. Utilizing a high-tech drill from a gravel island in the Beaufort Sea, the company hopes to reach two miles deep, turn and bore another six to eight miles horizontally to eventually tap an oil reservoir in federal waters. The ban established on new deep water drilling and drilling in Arctic waters, brought on by BP’s perpetual oil nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, terminated Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to begin exploratory drilling in Alaska this summer. BP, however, still might see its latest Alaska venture thrive. Wednesday, the United States government confirmed that the drilling “pause” does not apply to BP’s new project — ironically dubbed “Liberty”. “The deep-water moratorium does not apply to this particular project, which is based from a man-made island and would potentially be drilling directionally into formations under shallow water. If drilling permit applications are submitted for the project, the Department of the Interior will review them at the appropriate time and determine, based on safety and other considerations, whether the project should move forward with drilling under federal waters,” said Kendra Barkoff, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Before drilling may begin, BP will need to obtain state and federal drilling permits — permits for which it has not yet applied, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission (AOGCC), the state permitting agency. According to the AOGCC commissioner Cathy Foerster, operators usually apply for a permit roughly one month in advance of the proposed drilling date, also adding that “Liberty”, which launches from state waters to reach the federal reservoir, is an especially complicated project. “If they want to start in September I’d hope they get us something pretty soon,” she said. All permitting requests are thoroughly evaluated, according to AOGCC, and with the Gulf spill still intense as ever, BP can expect heightened security with “Liberty”. “I think everybody trusts BP a little bit less than they did six weeks ago,” Foerster said.