Alaska: Biden Approves Controversial Willow Oil Project

Published: 2023-03-17
Views: 372
Author: Editorial
Published in: Politics

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

According to CNN, the Willow Project is a decades-long oil drilling venture in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government.

The project is expected to generate enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon pollution a year – equivalent to adding 2 million gas-powered cars to the roads.

The area where the project is planned holds up to 600 million barrels of oil, though that oil would take years to reach the market since the project has yet to be constructed.

The approval is a victory for Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation and a coalition of Alaska Native tribes and groups who hailed the drilling venture as a much-needed new source of revenue and jobs for the remote region.

In a statement by the Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, “We finally did it, Willow is finally reapproved, and we can almost literally feel Alaska’s future brightening because of it,” adding that Alaska is “now on the cusp of creating thousands of new jobs, generating billions of dollars in new revenues” and “improving quality of life on the North Slope and across our state.”

The project has galvanized an uprising of online activism against it, including more than one million letters written to the White House in protest of the project, and a Change.org petition with millions of signatures.

Environmental advocates are expected to challenge the project in court.