Willow Project

The vast oil drilling project in Alaska is inconsistent with President Biden's pledges to lead on climate action.

You can further help us by making a donation. ConocoPhillips had initially sought five drilling sites for the project and said it needed at least three to make the project financially viable, The New York Times report further said. It also stipulated that millions of acres of federal land be auctioned off for oil and gas drilling to provide more fossil fuels. The project is expected to produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day, the BBC report said. The final decision approved three drilling pads. The Willow Project is a decades-long oil drilling venture in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government, according to the news channel CNN. The reserve, which has no roads, is the country’s largest single expanse of pristine land. Oil giant ConocoPhillips had fiercely lobbied for the project along with Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation for the past several months. The $8 billion (Rs 65,875.40 crore) project is hugely controversial for its likely environmental impact, even as many hail it for opportunities for thousands of jobs and establishing a new source of revenue for the region. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Read more:

US Department of the Interior has approved a scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips' Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska ...

In February, the BLM published a final supplemental environmental impact statement identifying a preferred alternative that removed one of the five proposed drill pads from consideration and deferred consideration of another. ( [Earlier post](https://www.greencarcongress.com/2023/02/20230206-willow.html).) The [Record of Decision](https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/109410/200258032/20075029/250081211/2023%20Willow%20MDP%20Record%20of%20Decision.pdf) (ROD) reduces the size of the project by denying two of the original five drill sites proposed by ConocoPhillips, which is seeking to develop oil and gas leases it acquired beginning in the late 1990s. This reduces the project’s freshwater use and eliminates all infrastructure related to the two rejected drill sites, including approximately 11 miles of roads, 20 miles of pipelines, and 133 acres of gravel, all of which reduces potential impacts to caribou migration and subsistence users, DOI said. The Project as approved in the ROD includes only drill sites BT1, BT2 and BT3 and associated infrastructure—the Willow Processing Facility (WPF), Willow Operations Center (WOC), and airstrip. The project is projected to deliver between $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska and North Slope Borough communities. [approved](https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-substantially-reduces-scope-willow-project) a scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips’ Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

Led by oil giant ConocoPhillips, the Willow project is an $8 billion proposal to drill oil and gas in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

They believe it would destroy the region’s natural habitat and alter the migration patterns of animals. However, his administration felt the need to reach out to working-class voters, who care about the gasoline price spikes that occurred after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The announcement was welcomed by Alaska’s lawmakers, who believe that the project would generate thousands of jobs and millions in revenue for their state. Apart from this, President Biden wanted to avoid getting into a legal tussle with ConocoPhillips. According to the New York Times, the project would yield more than 600 million barrels of oil over 30 years, a volume nearly 1.5 times the current supply in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This includes three drill sites and less surface infrastructure than originally proposed.

JUNEAU, Alaska — The Biden administration is approving a major oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope that supporters say represents an economic ...

[Reforestation work](https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-forests-trees-plants-de0505c965c198a081a4b48084b0e903) on federal lands was something the administration already planned and needed to meet its broader climate goals. The administration said it would make available the proposed rule for public comment in the coming months. The Willow project “is about producing oil for decades when the U.S. The withdrawal of the offshore area ensures that important habitat for whales, seals, polar bears and other wildlife “will be protected in perpetuity from extractive development,″ the White House said in a statement. Environmentalists say approval of the project represents a betrayal by Biden, who [promised during the 2020 campaign to end new oil and gas drilling on federal lands](https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-technology-climate-26908b855045d5ce7342fd01be8bcc10). They listened to the delegation as we pressed the case for energy security and national security.” [slash planet-warming carbon emissions in half by 2030](https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-technology-business-climate-summits-949962c299ab8792d82d0d0fef57b046) and move to clean energy. “After years of consistent, determined advocacy for this project, from people all across the state and from every walk of life, the Willow Project is finally moving forward.” City of Nuiqsut Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, whose community of about 525 people is closest to the proposed development, is a prominent opponent who is worried about impacts on caribou and her residents’ subsistence lifestyles. The project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the company — about 1.5% of total U.S. Supporters have called the project balanced and say communities would benefit from taxes generated by Willow to invest in infrastructure and provide public services. The action reduces the project’s freshwater use and eliminates all infrastructure related to the two rejected drill sites, including approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) of roads, 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipelines and 133 acres (54 hectares) of gravel, all of which reduces potential impacts to caribou migration and subsistence users, the U.S.

US President Joe Biden approved a major oil and gas drilling project in Alaska this Monday, March 13, 2023, that faced strong opposition from environmental ...

Monday's announcement will allow only three drill sites for the project instead of the five that were initially proposed. Bureau of Land Management, as part of an environmental review, advanced in February a development option calling for up to three drill sites initially, which it said would include about 219 total wells. [What is Saudi Arabia’s Next Mega-Project? ConocoPhillips Alaska said it considered that option workable. Impact of the Willow Project Cons of the Willow Project - The Willow project can produce up to 600 million barrels of oil and 287 million tons of carbon emissions plus other greenhouse gases. - The Willow Project is an oil development project by ConocoPhillips. What is the Willow Project? In October the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved ConocoPhillips' Willow development project in its Record of Decision. What Is The Willow Project? According to ConocoPhillips, the company behind the Willow project, this project intends to create local investment and thousands of jobs.

Zaidi shared the stage with Steven Chu — Professor of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Nobel laureate and former U.S. Secretary of Energy — at the ...

Tying climate policies back to American communities has personal roots for Zaidi, who said his dedication to a career in policymaking was sparked when he moved from Pakistan to rural Pennsylvania with his family in the first grade. You see the world from a different perspective,” Chu said. “Yes, you work for peanuts, but you get to slosh around billions — if you slosh it around in the right way you can change the world.” Both Chu and Zaidi encouraged students to consider working in public service or on climate change. “That in many ways what we asked for from the United States Congress was, you know, plywood, nails and hammers — but it’s going to be on us to build the future that we want… Zaidi shared the stage with Steven Chu — Professor of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Nobel laureate and former U.S.

The Willow Project is a decadeslong oil drilling venture in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. The area where the project ...

"This is in direct conflict with the Biden-Harris administration's goals of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030, and it's now all the more important they double down on executive action that maximizes climate and conservation progress," Sittenfeld said in a statement. "This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation," Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. The White House on Monday made the entire US Arctic Ocean off limits to future oil and gas leasing. "After years of consistent, determined advocacy for this project, from people all across the state and from every walk of life, the Willow Project is finally moving forward," said Democratic Rep. The administration felt it was constrained legally and had few options to cancel or significantly curtail the project -- which was initially approved by the Trump administration. "I would like to thank the President and his administration for listening to the voices of Alaskans when it mattered most." Reducing the drill-pads to two would have allowed the company to drill about 70% of the oil they were initially seeking. "We know President Biden understands the existential threat of climate, but he is approving a project that derails his own climate goals." The venture was ultimately approved with three drilling pads. The Willow Project is a decadeslong oil drilling venture in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. Environmental advocates are expected to challenge the project in court. "We finally did it, Willow is finally reapproved, and we can almost literally feel Alaska's future brightening because of it," Republican Sen.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Kevin Dietsch/Alex Wong/Getty Images.

“But we’ve got to get moving to the court.” The prevailing sense was that they should instead try to shape the project in other ways by adding more protections to federal land and water in Alaska. “This was not something that was ultimately going to reside with the secretary of interior; I think a decision had been made some time ago that this was at the highest political level.” Peltola told the president she believed Willow was an example of a managed, just transition from fossil fuel to clean energy, and that it would benefit impoverished communities on Alaska’s North Slope. “There was no way around the fact that these were valid existing lease rights,” Murkowski said. The group’s lawyers say the Biden administration’s authority to protect surface resources on Alaska’s public lands includes taking steps to reduce planet-warming carbon pollution – which Willow would ultimately add to. “Were there people within the administration that were working to actively kill this? “We realized some time ago this was going to be a decision that was ultimately made at the White House level – not only by senior leaders, but actually with the president’s direct involvement,” Republican Sen. “And this project is a key piece of transitioning, at least for Alaska.” Up until the moment the decision was posted, “I think there were still folks working to kill this.” Haaland did not explicitly say which way the department was leaning on the decision at the time. Those constituents prevailed on her to reject the massive ConocoPhillips drilling venture.

Despite heavy opposition from environmental activists, a viral TikTok campaign and a campaign promise by President Joe Bien to move the U.S. away from ...

In the future, social media will likely continue to play a larger role in environmental activism, but that could be "dangerous," because people en masse likely are uneducated about what they're really protesting against, Van Susteren said. "President Biden is delivering on the most aggressive climate agenda of any U.S. The decision also requires ConocoPhillips to relinquish its leases for 68,000 acres to create a buffer between the infrastructure for the Willow site and migratory routes for a nearby caribou herd. Young people are poised to become the largest bloc of voters in America by 2025, Fisher said. president of all time -- a promise he made while running for office in 2020, the experts said. Instead, young activists used a "very common tactic" to mobilize TikTok users in a growing topic on the platform to educate users, Fisher said.

Joe Biden continues to confound on the climate crisis. Hailed as America's first “climate president”, Biden signed sweeping, landmark legislation to tackle ...

“Instead, we must end the expansion of oil, gas and coal and embrace the abundant climate solutions at our fingertips.” “We all recognize the need for cleaner energy, but there is a major gap between our capability to generate it and our daily needs,” Peltola [wrote in an op-ed](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/opinions/willow-project-alaska-murkowski-sullivan-peltola/index.html) on Friday with Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, the Republican senators from Alaska. This sort of “rhetorical dualism [is] a call for ‘one last fossil bender before America goes green and sober’”, according to a note by analysts at ClearView But the approval of the project is consistent with an administration that has approved nearly 100 more oil and gas drilling leases than Donald Trump had at the same point in his presidency, federal data shows. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled global energy markets and triggered a push to build new export terminals to ship US oil and gas to European allies, even as Biden toiled to pass Biden’s approval of this is “a colossal and reprehensible stain on his environmental legacy”, according to Raena Garcia, fossil fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth. [Gore told the Guardian on Friday](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/10/al-gore-biden-alaska-oil-drilling-willow-development). All members of Alaska’s congressional delegation, including And yet, on Monday, his administration decided to approve one of the largest oil drilling projects staged in the US in decades. [$370bn in clean energy spending](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/06/inflation-reduction-act-climate-crisis-congress) in the Inflation Reduction Act. [long beyond the time](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/22/rich-countries-must-stop-producing-oil-and-gas-by-2034-says-study) scientists say that wealthy countries should have kicked the habit, in order to avoid disastrous global heating. [green light given to the Willow development](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/13/alaska-willow-project-approved-oil-gas-biden) on the remote tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, swatting aside the protests of millions of online petitioners, progressives in Congress and [even Al Gore](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/10/al-gore-biden-alaska-oil-drilling-willow-development), will have global reverberations.

The Biden administration approved the Willow project, Alaska's largest oil and gas development in decades, after bipartisan lobbying efforts.

Three years ago, the Bureau of Land Management approved Willow in a decision similar to the one announced Monday, but environmental groups sued and a U.S. “This is significant in the fact that not only will this mean jobs and revenue for Alaska, it will be a resource that is needed for the country and for our friends and allies. “This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation,” said Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer in a prepared statement on Monday. “So we’ve just got to get through it, and hopefully sooner rather than later.” Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. That campaign hit a climax two weeks ago when the three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation had an Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden. We will continue to fight this project with all means at our disposal.” Those go to the federal government, which splits them with North Slope communities. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, who represents the region. You might arrive with a dirty carburetor and half-blown spark plugs, he said, but you made it. Josiah Patkotak, I-Utqiagvik, said getting the final approval felt like arriving home after a long snowmachine trip. By comparison, the trans-Alaska Pipeline System carries about 480,000 barrels of oil per day.

The hotly debated Willow oil drilling project has been approved in Alaska, a decision that could exacerbate climate change and imperil wildlife.

[statement](https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-issues-statement-proposed-willow-project) with “substantial concerns” about the project – a highly unusual step. “Interior’s decision to give ConocoPhillips permits for an oil and gas project demonstrates once again how agencies and corporate interests disregard the cost of industrialisation to land, water, animals and people.” This [region has seen temperatures rise](/article/mg25634175-500-the-arctic-and-antarctic-saw-record-warmth-and-ice-melt-in-2022/) two to four times as fast as the rest of the planet. [written by](https://ndncollective.org/consultation-process-inadequate-new-letter-from-nuiqsut-community-leaders-to-department-of-interior/) residents of Nuiqsut, a town 56 kilometres from the approved drilling site. Outside estimates put that at closer to [260 million tonnes](https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/earthjustice-reacts-to-biden-administrations-approval-of-willow-project-in-alaska), or the equivalent of running nearly 70 coal-fired power plants for a year. By the US government’s own estimates, it will generate [9.2 million tonnes](https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/109410/200258032/20073121/250079303/Willow%20FSEIS_Vol%201_Ch%201-Ch%205.pdf) of carbon pollution a year, or the equivalent of [2 million gas-powered cars](https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator).

The Biden administration gave final approval Monday to a major Arctic oil project, marking one of its most significant and controversial decisions on ...

ConocoPhillips agreed to relinquish 68,000 acres of leased land close to Teshekpuk Lake, as part of Monday’s approval, but Itchoak said that would still leave the company with leases in other areas where it could propose additional projects in the future. Willow would add a third, just beyond the existing site to the west. That warming is thawing the region’s permafrost, and ConocoPhillips has said it will use subterranean chillers to help maintain the ice beneath its roads and other operations, in order to prevent them from collapsing. “The true cost of the Willow Project is to the land and to animals and people forced to breath[e] polluted air and drink polluted water,” said a statement issued Monday by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, a Native-led environmental group. The Interior Department, which manages the petroleum reserve, said the change would significantly reduce the water use and surface impacts of drilling. Other Alaska Natives have warned about the impacts of oil drilling on their way of life. A petition on the website Change.org [had drawn more than 3.2 million signatures](https://www.change.org/p/joseph-r-biden-biden-administration-and-conocophillips-say-no-to-the-willow-project?redirect=false) as of Monday afternoon. Harcharek said the revenue generated by Willow—potentially billions of dollars—will support local communities and help them invest in wildlife monitoring and climate adaptation projects. It’s wrong on climate and wrong for the country.” The Willow Project was proposed five years ago by ConocoPhillips and would be the largest oil development to proceed under the Biden administration. The Biden administration gave final approval Monday to a major Arctic oil project, marking one of its most significant and controversial decisions on climate change and energy. “We cannot allow ConocoPhillips to accelerate the climate crisis, and in my mind that’s exactly what this does.”

President Biden burns his base as he puts profits over people · Environmental groups on Monday swiftly slammed the Biden administration's approval of the ...

“The Willow project is a handout to Big Oil that will undermine the administration’s own climate goals,” Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, [the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic](https://www.silainuat.org/) say the Willow approval is a betrayal and that the federal government is putting corporate interests above those of local communities. For years, the Iñupiat people who reside in the village of Nuiqsut have warned the BLM about the damage that further oil and gas drilling would cause to their town, subsistence way of life, and the local environment. [who were key to Biden’s 2020 victory](https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-voters-are-coming). The risk for our village is too high, and we are not acceptable costs for approval of this project." [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/climate/willow-biden-oil-climate.html?smid=em-share) on Monday. “While this project may have been approved, the effort to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy continues.” Additionally, the Interior Department plans to put in place updated rules that will prohibit oil and gas sales on some 13 million of the petroleum reserve’s 23 million acres. In addition to emissions, the project will add nearly 200 wells and numerous ancillary roads, pads, and ramps to access oil in the National Petroleum Reserve, one of the largest areas of federal lands. In its ruling, a federal judge found that the BLM failed to consider both the greenhouse gases that would be released and the impact it would have on endangered polar bears. The new plan does little to address the issues critics raised about the first one, including the concern that the project would exacerbate climate change, endanger species like polar bears and caribou, and put local communities at risk of oil spills and gas releases. [Willow oil drilling project](https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/will-biden-administration-greenlight-conocophillips-carbon-bomb) along Alaska's North Slope.

PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Teamsters are lauding the Biden administration for approving the Willow Project, an energy construction project that will be...

[Teamster.org](https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3810252-1&h=3173344923&u=https%3A%2F%2Fnam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fteamster.org%252F%26data%3D05%257C01%257Ckdeniz%2540teamster.org%257C0817dd986be84915665408db150330d4%257Ca97187cc27574a2985afe7a30e25fa17%257C0%257C0%257C638126876350752144%257CUnknown%257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%253D%257C3000%257C%257C%257C%26sdata%3DJrsdQzpB3k0qC5S70R%252FpE4dU1c59MHf8T3BHC9CgeKo%253D%26reserved%3D0&a=Teamster.org) to learn more. "The Willow Project will create thousands of good union jobs, improve our infrastructure, and enhance our national security." "The Willow Project will create 2,000 new jobs directly related to construction and freight. "Not only will this create good-paying jobs with benefits to our members, but it will also go a long way toward increasing American energy independence." "This development goes a long way toward fulfilling many of the promises that President Biden made on the campaign trail," said Teamsters General President Sean M. The president did right by Alaskans with this decision."