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Than off a floating rig. but environmentalists say it's a clever way of gaming the federal permit system. rebecca noblin 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 heart 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, b...

Groups. >> if anything were to go wrong, if there were an oil spill that oil is going into the ocean. it's not on land. so this is really, you know, drilling in water. >> reporter: that is the heart of the debate. does putting the massive drill rig on a 32 mile pile of gravel mean bp's island project should be subject to the federal rules for drilling on land or 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, a bp spokesman says the company carefully followed the state and federal permitting ...

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...

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 dr...

April 20th. >> this is a well that i believe was probably initially drilled in 1960s or '70s. most of what we're drilling here on the shell is stuff that under pressure. we need to restimulate it. >> we're the largest shallow water jack up in the gulf of mexico. we have 40,000 miles of boom. >> how has it been affected by the bp spill? >> well, we're afraid we're not drilling soon. we've already had several rigs that have gone idle because the federal government is not issuing new drilling permits. we've heard rumblings and rumors that drilling permits will be issued. but since april 20th, we ...