WASHINGTON — In one of its most important climate decisions, the Biden administration is planning to give the green light to a massive $8 billion oil drilling project in Alaska’s North Slope, according to two people familiar with the matter. with this decision.
Alaska lawmakers and oil executives have put intense pressure on the White House to approve the project, citing President Biden’s primary call for the industry to increase output amid volatile gas prices.
But the oil drilling proposal has also provoked young voters and climate activists, many of whom helped elect Biden and who would see the decision as a betrayal of the president’s promises. that he would pivot the nation away from fossil fuels.
The Home Office’s approval of the largest proposed oil project in the country would mark a turning point in the administration’s approach to fossil fuel development. Courts and Congress forced Mr. Biden to drop his campaign pledge to “drill no more on federal lands, stop” and sign a limited number of oil and gas leases. The Willow project will be one of the few oil developments that Biden has freely approved without a court or congressional authorization.
While the decision is not final and could still be modified by Mr. Biden, it highlights the tensions he faces when the urgency of climate change conflicts with the realities of the war in the United States. Ukraine and the instability it has created in the global energy market.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who supports the project, said Friday night that she was not informed of the decision. “We haven’t celebrated, not with this White House,” she said.
Environmental groups accelerated over the weekend as they tried to convince the authorities to change course.
“Let us be clear: Willow has not yet been approved and this is not an acceptable project,” said Karlin Itchoak, senior regional director for Alaska at The Wilderness Society, an environmental group. . He called the approval a “terrible scientific denial.”
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, stressed that a final decision has not yet been made.
ConocoPhillips intends to build the Willow project inside the National Petroleum Reserve, a 23 million-acre site 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The reserve, with no roads, is the country’s largest piece of pristine land.
The Biden Administration’s Environmental Agenda
The authorities have reduced the number of drilling sites the company has requested, to three from five, said one of the people with knowledge of the discussions.
However, Willow will be the largest newly developed oil field in the United States, expected to pump out 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years. Burning all that oil could release nearly 280 million tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. On an annual basis, that would translate to 9.2 million tons of carbon pollution, the equivalent of adding nearly two million cars to the road every year. The United States, the second largest polluter on the planet after China, emits about 5.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Environmental activists, who have called the project a “carbon bomb” have argued that the project will deepen America’s reliance on oil and gas at a time when the International Energy Agency says the Countries must stop licensing such projects to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
Over the past 60 years, Alaska has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the US and temperatures there are expected to continue to rise an average of 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the Willow project’s 30-year life, thawing the frozen Arctic tundra around the rigs.
ConocoPhillips plans to install devices called thermal siphons in the melting permafrost to keep it sturdy enough to support the heavy equipment needed to drill for oil – burning them releases gas emits carbon dioxide, which scientists say will exacerbate ice melt.
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The administration’s intention to approve the Willow project was first reported by Bloomberg. The decision is one of the toughest energy issues facing the Biden administration. done more than any before White House to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase wind, solar and other clean energy.
Political analysts said they see the move as part of Mr Biden’s turn to the center.
“Joe Biden is a realist about what it will take to win re-election in 2024 for him, or any,” said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University. any other Democrat. “Americans are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, from gasoline to heavy manufacturing, and any shortage or price increase will worry voters, especially in states with a lot of drive like Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. The Democrats almost escaped the brunt of gas prices and inflation in 2022, but no politically right incumbent president wants to take that opportunity again.”
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Kevin Book, chief executive officer of Clearview Energy Partners, a research firm, said approving Willow would be a pragmatic decision. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, many countries have stopped or reduced their purchases of Russian gas and oil to cut off Moscow’s revenue. Those cuts have reshaped energy markets, created shortages in Europe, and spurred the United States to fill the void by producing more oil and gas.
“The war is not over yet,” said Mr. Book. “There is still a huge potential risk to supply, and it won’t end even if war breaks out.”
He also argued that the emissions associated with the burning of drilling oil from the Willow project would not be eliminated if Mr. Biden rejected the project, but simply generated elsewhere.
Administration officials are promoting the Willow project though “considerable concern” on emissions, hazards to freshwater resources, and threats to migratory birds, reindeer, whales and other animals that inhabit the area. The government regulates conditions including wildlife protection and reducing the length of gravel and ice tracks, pipelines and the length of runways to support drilling.
Alaska’s congressional delegation, unanimously in favor of Willow, met with Mr. Biden last week. Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said he gave the president a bipartisan resolution supporting the project recently passed by the Alaska Legislature.
Other advocates, including the labor union, the construction industry and some North Slope residents, have argued that the project will create about 2,500 jobs and generate up to $17 billion in revenue for the project. the federal government.
At a recent meeting convened by Ms. Murkowski, Taqulik Hepa, director of North Slope Borough’s Wildlife Management Department, said that the city’s services in her community depend on taxes from the infrastructure. petroleum layer.
Hepa said the county and its residents are “deeply aware of the need to strike a balance between responsible oil development and the self-sufficient lifestyle that has sustained us.”
Opponents of the environmental project say it is puzzling that a president who wants to confront climate change could approve the Willow project.
Activists this month staged a rally in the rain outside the White House and rallied on Tik Tok and other social media against the project with the hashtag ##StopWillow, used used hundreds of millions of times. ONE Proposal “Say no to the Willow project” on Change.org has over three million signatures and continues to grow.
Leaders of major environmental organizations including the Federation of Conservation Voters, Alaska Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice and others gathered two weeks ago for what what two participants described as an emotional meeting with Deb Haaland, the Home Secretary. Ms Haaland, who opposed Willow when she served in Congress, choked up when the Alaska Natives begged her to stop the project and she explained that her agency had to make tough choices, people said. attendee said. Activists leave the impression that the decision to approve Willow has been made.
Among the most staunch opponents of the project are those who live closest to it. Rosemary Ahtuanguruak is the mayor of Nuiqsut, an Alaska Native community about 35 miles from the Willow site. If the project were to be built, she said her community of about 500 people would be besieged by oil and gas facilities, threatening their way of life and reliance on hunting and fishing for a living.
“We have enough oil and gas development around us and enough sites have been leased in this area that they can operate for a long time,” Ms. Ahtuanguruak said. “There is no reason for them to go into this area. It’s about wanting.
In a March 3 letter to Ms. Haaland, Ms. Ahtuanguruak said the project’s recent environmental assessments did not adequately consider the impact on local communities.
The federal agency, she writes, “didn’t consider the harm this project would cause from the perspective of how we are who we are — how to ensure that we can maintain our culture, tradition and the ability to continue going out across its lands and waters.”
Willow was initially approved by the Trump administration, and the Biden administration later defended the approval in court. The project was then temporarily blocked by a judge, who said the previous administration’s environmental analysis was incomplete and did not adequately consider potential harm to wildlife or impacts. next on climate change. That forces the Biden administration to do a new analysisreleased in July.
Davenport coral Katie Rogers And Zolan Kanno-Youngs contribution report.
