The Biden administration is weighing approval of a major oil project on Alaska\u2019s petroleum-rich North Slope that supporters say represents an economic lifeline for Indigenous communities in the region but environmentalists say is counter to President Joe Biden\u2019s climate goals.
\nA decision on ConocoPhillips Alaska\u2019s Willow project, in a federal oil reserve roughly the size of Indiana, could come by early March.
\nWhat is the Willow project?
\nThe project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the company \u2014 about 1.5 percent of total U.S. oil production. But in Alaska, Willow represents the biggest oil field in decades. Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the development could be \u201cone of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state\u2019s history.\u201d
\nOn average, about 499,700 barrels of oil a day flow through the trans-Alaska pipeline, well below the late-1980s peak of 2.1 million barrels.
\nConocoPhillips Alaska had proposed five drilling sites as part of the project. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in early February identified up to three drill sites initially as a preferred alternative, which ConocoPhillips Alaska said it considered a viable option. But the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the bureau, took the unusual step of issuing a separate statement expressing \u201csubstantial concerns\u201d with the alternative and the project.
\nThe alternative showed extracting and using the oil from Willow would produce the equivalent of more than 278 million tons (306 million short tons) of greenhouse gases over the project\u2019s 30-year life, roughly equal to the combined emissions from 2 million passenger cars over the same time period. It would have a roughly 2 percent reduction in emissions compared to ConocoPhillips\u2019 favored approach.
\nIs there support for Willow?
\nThere is widespread political support in Alaska, including from the bipartisan congressional delegation, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and state lawmakers. There also is \u201cmajority consensus\u201d in support in the North Slope region, said Nagruk Harcharek, president of the group Voice of the Arctic I\u00f1upiat, whose members include leaders from across much of that region. Supporters have called the project balanced and say communities would benefit from taxes generated by Willow to invest in infrastructure and provide public services.
\nCity of Nuiqsut Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, whose community of about 525 people is closest to the proposed development, is a prominent opponent who is worried about impacts on caribou and her residents\u2019 subsistence lifestyles. But opposition there isn\u2019t universal. The local Alaska Native village corporation has expressed support.
\nU.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat who is Yup\u2019ik, said there is \u201csuch consensus in the region and across Alaska that this project is a good project.\u201d She hoped to make a case to Biden that the project would create well-paying union jobs.
\nAhtuangaruak said she feels voices like hers are being drowned out.
\nWhat are the politics of the decision?
\nBiden faces a dilemma that pits Alaska lawmakers against environmental groups and many Democrats in Congress who say the project is out of step with Biden\u2019s goals to slash planet-warming carbon emissions in half by 2030 and move to clean energy. Approval of the project would represent a betrayal by Biden, who promised during the 2020 campaign to end new oil and gas drilling on federal lands, environmentalists say.
\nBiden has made fighting climate change a top priority and backed a landmark law to accelerate the expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power, and move the U.S. away from oil, coal and gas.
\nHe faces attacks from Republican lawmakers who blame Biden for gasoline price spikes that occurred after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nDidn\u2019t the Biden administration support Willow?
\nJustice Department attorneys in 2021 defended in court an environmental review conducted during the Trump administration that approved the project. But a federal judge later found flaws with the analysis, setting aside the approval and returning the matter to the land management agency for further work. That led to the review released in early February.
\nAlaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was concerned the Biden administration would \u201ctry to have it both ways\u201d by issuing an approval but including so many restrictions it would render the project uneconomical.
\nWhat about greenhouse gas emissions?
\nFederal officials under former President Donald Trump claimed increased domestic oil drilling would result in fewer net global emissions because it would decrease petroleum imports. U.S. companies adhere to stricter environmental standards than those in other countries, they argued.
\nAfter outside scientists rejected the claim and a federal judge agreed, the Interior Department changed how it calculates emissions.
\nThe latest review, under the Biden administration, is getting pushback over its inclusion of a suggestion that 50 percent of Willow\u2019s net emissions could be offset, including by planting more trees on national forests to capture and store carbon dioxide. Reforestation work on federal lands was something the administration already planned and needed to meet its broader climate goals, said Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute.
\n\u201cThat doesn\u2019t help you meet a reduction goal. It\u2019s absurd,\u201d said Lazarus, whose work was cited by the judge who overruled the Trump-era environmental review. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t address the fact that we\u2019re increasing global emissions by doing this project. \u2026 We\u2019re locking in emissions for 30 years into the future when we should be on a reduction schedule.\u201d
\nWhat about Biden\u2019s promises to curtail oil drilling?
\nBiden suspended oil and gas lease sales after taking office and promised to overhaul the government\u2019s fossil fuels program.
\nAttorneys general from oil-producing states convinced a federal judge to lift the suspension \u2014 a ruling later overturned by an appeals court. The administration ultimately dropped its resistance to leasing in a compromise over last year\u2019s climate law. The measure requires the Interior
\nDepartment to offer for sale tens of millions of acres of onshore and offshore leases before it can approve any renewable energy leases.
\nThe number of new drilling permits to companies with federal leases spiked in Biden\u2019s first year as companies stockpiled drilling rights and officials said they were working through a backlog of applications from the Trump administration. Approvals dropped sharply in fiscal year 2022.
\nThe Biden administration has offered less acreage for lease than previous administrations. But environmentalists say the administration hasn\u2019t done enough.
\nU.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a recent interview declined direct comment on Willow but said that \u201cpublic lands belong to every single American, not just one industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
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