Willow project

Environmental advocates opposed to the oil drilling project have called it a "carbon bomb," but proponents such as Alaska politicians and labor unions say ...

The company also said it would create 2,500 construction jobs and roughly 300 permanent jobs. This project will produce lasting economic and security benefits for our state and the nation." The company says the project has the potential to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day. [applauded the Biden administration's approval](https://www.conocophillips.com/news-media/story/conocophillips-welcomes-record-of-decision-on-the-willow-project/). "What a huge and needed victory for all Alaska. [blocking or limiting drilling elsewhere](https://www.npr.org/2023/03/12/1163003146/alaska-drilling-protections-biden) in the state.

The Biden administration has approved the massive Willow oil drilling project in Alaska, angering climate advocates and setting the stage for a court ...

“This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation,” Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “The new protections announced for the threatened Arctic are important, but they do not make up for Willow’s approval.” 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. “Industrial development in this unspoiled landscape will not age well.” “I would like to thank the President and his administration for listening to the voices of Alaskans when it mattered most.” 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. 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 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.

Drilling for more oil in the Alaskan Arctic would be, in the President's own words, a “big disaster.”

“In giving the greenlight to drilling, President Biden is now risking the support of many young people who voted for him in large numbers in 2020,” the BBC noted. An immense new oil project—Willow is expected to include more than two hundred wells—is obviously at odds with the goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. [Barack Obama](https://www.newyorker.com/tag/barack-obama)’s all-of-the-above energy strategy?) And it’s the reason that, even as the country takes steps to reduce emissions, it never seems to really get anywhere. The decision to approve the Willow project is—to use the President’s words—“a big disaster.” This is not just because of the impact that the project will have, though certainly that is bad enough. In the form in which it was approved on Monday, the Willow project will produce roughly five hundred and seventy-five million barrels of oil in the course of the next thirty years. In an opinion piece published on CNN’s Web site last week, all the members of Alaska’s congressional delegation—two Republican senators and a Democratic representative—expressed their support for the project. Of course, for those who oppose the project, the politics play differently. [Inflation Reduction Act](https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-democrats-finally-deliver), which contained both billions of dollars’ worth of tax credits to speed the transition away from fossil fuels and a stipulation that millions of acres of federal land be auctioned off for oil and gas drilling to provide more fossil fuels. On Monday, the Biden Administration granted ConocoPhillips approval for an immense new drilling project—the Willow oil project—in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Biden, in response, pledged, “No more drilling on federal lands, period, period, period.” It was, he added, “a disaster” to drill for oil in the Arctic—“a big disaster, in my view.” As the Times pointed out, the Willow project “would be one of the few oil projects that Mr. By the Administration’s own estimates, burning all that oil will result in the emission of about ten million tons of carbon dioxide per year, or some three hundred million tons over the life of the project.

Environmental groups have already said they will sue to block the Arctic oil development, which would be Alaska's largest in decades.

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 Biden administration has approved ConocoPhillips Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve. Oil drilling proponents see it as a win for domestic ...

We’ll discuss the Willow decision on this Talk of Alaska. Post your comment during or after the live broadcast on social media (Comments may be read on air). The Biden administration has approved ConocoPhillips Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve.

US government decision to greenlight ConocoPhillips Alaska's $8bn Willow oil project received praise and condemnation.

The Willow project “is about producing oil for decades when the US needs to be on a steep reduction path”, said Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute. The withdrawal of the offshore area ensures 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. These are the types of emissions that we cannot afford if we’re going to avoid the worst of climate change,” Grafe told Al Jazeera. Supporters have called the project balanced and say communities would benefit from taxes generated by Willow to invest in infrastructure and provide public services. Willow is currently the largest proposed oil project on US public land. ConocoPhillips Alaska proposed five drilling sites as part of the project.

The Biden administration is approving a scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips' $7 billion oil and gas drilling Willow project in Alaska, the U.S. Department ...

Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska said the congressional delegation is expecting an imminent legal challenge and is preparing an amicus brief to defend the project. "The state of Alaska cannot carry the burden of solving our global warming issues alone." ConocoPhillips had sought to build up to five drill sites and project infrastructure including dozens of miles of roads and pipelines and seven bridges. Alaska's elected officials say the project will create hundreds of jobs and bring billions of dollars in revenue to state and federal coffers. "I feel the people of Alaska have been heard," U.S. [The decision](/world/us/biden-plans-limits-oil-drilling-alaska-arctic-circle-ap-2023-03-12/) follows an aggressive eleventh-hour campaign from opponents who had argued the development of the three drill sites in northwestern Alaska conflicts with President Joe Biden's highly publicized efforts to fight climate change and shift to cleaner sources of energy.

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.

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.

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.

In a separate move, the Biden administration announced that it will lock up millions more acres in Alaska that were specifically set aside for oil production ...

The Biden administration announced Sunday plans to ban oil and gas production in more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, as well as 2.8 million acres in the Arctic Ocean nearshore the NPR-A. The Biden administration’s plans to prohibit oil and gas in a massive portion of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska blatantly ignores Congress’s original intent. In a separate move, the Biden administration announced that it will lock up millions more acres in Alaska that were specifically set aside for oil production and development.

High gas prices, a looming election and fears of a costly legal battle seem to have shifted the political calculus for the president.

In 2021 the Biden administration defended a Trump-era decision to allow the Willow project to go forward. At its peak, Willow will produce about 180,000 barrels of oil a day, but it will be several years before the crude begins to flow. The burning of oil produced by the Willow project would cause 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions, according to a federal analysis. Murkowski and others to walk them through the decision, members of Congress said. And the Interior Department plans to issue new rules to block oil and gas leases on more than 13 million of the 23 million acres that form the petroleum reserve. When advocates met with Deb Haaland, the Interior secretary, in late February in a last-ditch attempt to persuade her to block the permits, she choked up twice and explained that her agency often had to make difficult choices, according to several people who were present. “The administration was going to have to deal with that reality.” Those measures would effectively form a “firewall” that would prevent the Willow project from expanding, the administration said. Earthjustice, an environmental group, said it would sue to stop the project as soon as Wednesday and expects to be joined by several other organizations. The leases are essentially a contract and if the Biden administration denied the permits, essentially breached the contract, without what a court considered a valid argument, a judge would likely find in favor of the company, Mr. Now, the federal government may have to step in and [make a difficult decision](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/podcasts/the-daily/colorado-river-water-cuts.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-biden-climate&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). Willow would be one of the few oil projects that Mr.

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.

(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters are lauding the Biden administration for approving the Willow Project, an energy construction project that will be ...

[Teamster.org](https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteamster.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cmmcquaid%40teamster.org%7Cfbbec0c2f3b54686b4c108db24ca7a5a%7Ca97187cc27574a2985afe7a30e25fa17%7C0%7C0%7C638144224292695907%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YS1aR48XmM%2FWiBod5MIkLlyCwuAiFAjBcsKnIFxq2eA%3D&reserved=0) to learn more. “The Willow Project will create 2,000 new jobs directly related to construction and freight. “The Willow Project will create thousands of good union jobs, improve our infrastructure, and enhance our national security.” “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. Willow will be a driving force for the Alaskan economy.

The coalition alleges the project will spew toxic emissions and greenhouse gas pollution, undermining Biden's climate promises.

District Court, was brought on by the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Alaska Wilderness League, Environment America, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. [Biden's Arctic oil drama](https://www.axios.com/2023/03/13/biden-arctic-oil-willow-project-drama) Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), some Alaska Native leaders and unions. Meanwhile, a Biden administration official said Monday that Biden has fully closed off the U.S. [the Trump administration](https://www.axios.com/2020/08/17/arctic-refuge-oil-drilling-plan-alaska-trump)has the [backing of officials](https://www.axios.com/2023/03/13/biden-alaska-oil-drilling-arctic-protection-willow-project)including Sen. [Biden's climate promises](https://www.axios.com/pro/energy-policy/2023/03/09/bidens-climate-budget-tea-leaves).

President Joe Biden's approval of the Willow Project is expected to net billions in tax revenue and create new jobs on Alaska's North Slope as ...

[Biden administration](https://www.foxbusiness.com/category/joe-biden) approved the Willow Project, it did narrow its scope when the Bureau of Land Management and Interior declined a request by ConocoPhillips to develop five drilling pads and instead granted approval for just three. lands in the midst of a climate emergency and expect Indigenous, Black, brown and other frontline communities to take you at your word. The group’s co-executive directors Bineshi Albert, Monica Atkins and Marion Gee said in a joint statement, "You can’t approve the largest oil extraction site on public U.S. ConocoPhillips and other fossil fuel giants don’t need more profits or government favors." [MANCHIN ALIGNS WITH GOP ON BIDEN OIL DRILLING PROJECT, DEFENDS RECORD ON ENERGY PRODUCTION AS DEMS FRET](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/manchin-aligns-gop-biden-oil-drilling-project-defends-record-energy-production-democrats-fret) "This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation," said ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance. The company estimated the Willow Project will yield a peak of 180,000 barrels of oil per day or more than 65 million barrels per year, which will reduce U.S. The Willow Project is located on Alaska’s North Slope in a small portion of what’s known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). It also noted that the Willow Project went through five years of regulatory review under the National Environmental Policy Act and is designed with mitigation measures intended to avoid interfering with the subsistence activities of Alaska Native communities. Change % Change It has a footprint of about 500 acres, while the NPR-A is a 23 million-acre area on the North Slope originally set aside 100 years ago by President Warren Harding as an emergency oil supply for the U.S.

Environmental and indigenous groups have filed two separate lawsuits challenging the Willow Project on Alaska's North Slope after the Biden administration ...

The suit filed by Trustees of Alaska makes similar arguments, noting the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that Willow wouldn’t jeopardize the “continued existence” of polar bears or destroy their critical habitat. In two complaints filed Tuesday and early Wednesday morning, the groups argue that the Biden administration’s environmental analysis still violates federal law, including the National Environmental Policy Act. “But we’ve got to get moving to the court.” ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project is slated to drill oil in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. Earthjustice lawyers write that the Endangered Species Act consultations underlying Willow’s approval “are unlawful, because they fail to consider the impact of carbon emissions on threatened species.” Environmental groups and their attorneys are hoping for a similar outcome this time.

The Alaska venture will add 239 million metric tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere over the next 30 years.

“There is no question that the [Biden] administration possessed the legal authority to stop Willow — yet it chose not to,” said Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe in a statement. Environmental organisations have called it a “carbon bomb”. “ConocoPhillips’ massive oil and gas project presents a real threat to the wildlife, ecosystems, and communities of Arctic Alaska,” said Mike Scott of the Sierra Club, one of the complainants in the suit.