Controversial oil drilling project on Alaska's North Slope approved
The Biden administration approves the Willow Project despite environmentalists' concerns.
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The sun sets behind an oil drilling rig in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on March 17, 2011. (Reuters)
The Biden administration approved a controversial oil drilling project on Alaska's North Slope on Monday while ignoring environmentalists' concerns.
The Interior Department gave the US energy giant ConocoPhillips the green light to drill for oil at three sites in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska's pristine western Arctic.
During the 2020 elections, Joe Biden vowed that he will not approve any new leases for oil and gas projects on federal lands, placing his administration under pressure due to environmental groups opposing the so-called Willow Project.
Alaska lawmakers strongly promoted the approval of the project, as it will secure several thousand jobs and would be a contributor to US energy independence which produces 180,000 barrels of oil daily.
However, environmental groups expressed their disappointment with the Interior Department's move.
Read more: "Irreversible damages" caused by US' emissions of greenhouse gases
"We are too late in the climate crisis to approve massive oil and gas projects that directly undermine the new clean economy that the Biden administration committed to advancing," said Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen.
"We know President Biden understands the existential threat of climate, but he is approving a project that derails his own climate goals."
Environmental concerns
Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, pointed out the harmful effects of Biden's decision.
"Willow will be one of the largest oil and gas operations on federal public lands in the country, and the carbon pollution it will spew into the air will have devastating effects for our communities, wildlife, and the climate," Jealous said, adding that they will suffer the outcomes for decades to come.
Even though at the end of his term, former President Trump approved the Willow Project, it was blocked by a judge for further review.
In an environmental impact analysis in February, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the three drilling sites.
Temperatures in Alaska have been increasing faster than in other regions on the planet; an oil extraction project will make matter worse as the Willow Project will add more than 25 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere for the next 30 years, expressed the Sierra Club.
Read more: WH: Climate change could cost US $2 trillion a year
As Greenpeace called it a "carbon bomb", a petition on change.org was formed to halt the project which now has more than three million signatures. A #StopWillow campaign on TikTok also drew tens of millions of views.
