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A major Trump-era proposal to drill in Alaska's Arctic is back up for approval, after a federal judge temporarily halted the project in August 2021. President Joe Biden has so far defended the project, despite the fact that it flies in the face of his administration's stated goal of setting the nation on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. Environmental and Indigenous groups are hoping he'll change his position.
ConocoPhillips' proposed Willow project is expected to produce up to 590 million barrels of oil over 30 years. Burning that much oil would result in greenhouse gas emissions roughly equivalent to running 65 coal plants for a year.
“We’ve been clear from the beginning that it’s an unacceptable project,” said Jeremy Lieb, a senior associate attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that represented advocates in one of the lawsuits that led to the August ruling.
The project was approved under former president Donald Trump, but the approval was thrown out over the summer by a federal judge who ruled the approval failed to account for the full scope of greenhouse gas emissions or for dangers to wildlife, including polar bears. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is redoing the project's environmental assessment, which could again result in its approval.
Biden's record on fossil fuels has been mixed so far, and whether or not his administration approves the Willow project will have a defining effect on his environmental and climate legacy.
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The Biden administration has not yet found the political courage necessary to confront the realities of climate change... We need the administration to act boldly.”
