The Biden administration formally approved Willow, an $8 billion oil drilling project in Alaska, on Monday morning, despite the objection of climate activists who lobbied heavily against it.
The massive project, carried out by US energy company ConocoPhillips, is expected to produce about 600 million barrels of oil over a 30-year lifespan, The New York Times reported. In an effort to placate environmentalists, the government had considered limiting the project to just two drilling sites, instead of the five ConocoPhillips had originally proposed, but the company and Alaska lawmakers warned the project would need at least three to be economically viable. to CNN. (RELATED: US oil CEO says Biden climate goals are ‘impossible’ without allowing reforms)
“The President and the Biden-Harris administration continue to deliver on the most aggressive climate agenda in U.S. history, including clean energy production and job creation,” the Department of the Interior (DOI) said in a press release accompanying the decision. “He has secured record investments in climate resilience and environmental justice. And its economic agenda has put the United States back on track to meet its 2030 and 2050 climate goals while reducing America’s dependence on oil.”
.@InteriorThe project’s record of decisions ignores the project’s dire climate and biodiversity impacts. It approves three rigs that will produce 92% of the oil ConocoPhillips initially planned to develop, representing more than 260 million tons of greenhouse gases. pic.twitter.com/sBQn7c7bkv
— Earth Justice (@EarthJustice) March 13, 2023
The government has also taken steps to limit future oil and gas drilling in the Natural Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where Willow is located, by designating more than 13 million of the 23 million-acre reserve as “Special Areas,” the government said. DOI in its press release. Because the government has few options to directly restrict Willow, these designations are intended to create a “firewall” to prevent future oil and gas drilling in the region, a government official told Bloomberg.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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