boffert sea is where bp is pursuing one of its most ambitious drilling plans ever, undeterred by its disastrous still in the gulf of mexico. the arctic project is called liberty. it s not covered by the government s temporary ban on deep water drilling because the rig is on an artificial island made of gravel, an island developed by bp just a couple of miles from shore. so technically it s not deep water. only about 2 feet from surface to floor. but then bp plans on drilling another two miles down into the earth, then angling horizontally you think six to eight miles to hit the liberty reservoir where the company believes there s more than 100 million barrels of oil. this is called extended reach drilling. this will be done before, but never this far. and there s debate over the risks. a 2004 document from the federal mineral management service said erd wells are more prone to kicks and lost-circulation problems than more conventional and vertical wells. that occurs when drilling mud