in the wake of the gulf oil disaster another bp drilling project is drawing second looks. drew griffin of cnn s special investigations unit juourneyed inside the arctic circle to bring us the controversy. reporter: we are three miles out to sea off the north slope of alaska. take a look down through that fog. that s a drilling rig on a tiny man made island. bp owns the rig and dumped tons of gravel into the water only 22 feet deep to build up this island. cost so far? about a billion dollars. bp says with arctic ice floes drilling from an island is safer than off a floating rig. but environmentalists claim the tiny island is a clever way of gaming the federal permit system. this attorney represents one of a half dozen environmental
deep to build up this island. cost so far? about $1 billion. bp says if arctic ice floes, drilling from an island is safer than off a floating rig. b but environmentalists say it s a clever way of gaming the system. rebecca represents half a dozen environmental groups. if there were an oil spill, that oil is going into the ocean. it s not on land. so, this really is this is drilling in water. reporter: that s the hard of the debate. does putting the massive drill rig on a 32-acre pile of gravel mean bp s liberty island project should be subject to federal rules for drilling on land or should it be subject to the more rigorous rules of offshore drilling? the fact is, three years ago, bp succeeded in getting a land-based drilling permit. in an e-mail to cnn, awe bp spokesman says the company
bp says if arctic ice floes, drilling from an island is safer than off a floating rig. but environmentalists say it s a clever way of gaming the system. rebecca represents half a dozen environmental groups. if there were an oil spill, that oil is going into the ocean. it s not on land. so, this really is this is drilling in water. reporter: that s the hard of the debate. does putting the massive drill rig on a 32-acre pile of gravel mean bp s liberty island project should be subject to federal rules for drilling on land or should it be subject to the more rigorous rules of offshore drilling? the fact is, three years ago, bp succeeded in getting a land-based drilling permit. in an e-mail to cnn, awe bp spokesman says the company carefully followed the state and federal permitting systems and
we ve been reporting a lot of bp s safety record, leak in the trans-alaska pipeline it co-manages. as drew griffin reported last night, continuing allegations of safety problems on that pipeline. given that record, you would expect that regulators would be giving bp extra scrutiny when it comes to risky projects. it turns out that bp, with the government s okay, is about to finish a rig that critics say combines the risk of offshore drilling with the looser oversight of drilling on dry land. drew griffin is keeping them honest. three miles out to sea off the north slope of alaska. take a look down through that fog. that s a drilling rig on a tiny man-made island. bp owns the rig and dumped tons of gravel into the water 22 feet deep to build up this island. cost so far? about $1 billion. bp says with arctic ice floes, drilling from an island is safer