U.S. President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force 1 for a trip to San Diego, Monday, March 13, 2023, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Biden, a vocal champion of combating climate change, is angering environmental allies by approving a controversial oil and gas project in Alaska. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Evan Vucci
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden, a vocal champion of combating climate change, is angering environmental allies by approving a controversial oil and gas project in Alaska.
The Willow project, as it’s known, will allow energy giant ConocoPhillips to develop three drill sites in Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope region.
The Department of the Interior is framing today’s announcement as “substantially” reducing the scope of the project, which originally called for five well sites.
The decision also requires ConocoPhillips to relinquish drilling rights on roughly 275 square kilometres of land in the region, known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
That hasn’t quelled criticism from climate activists who consider the project a “carbon bomb” that could produce 300 million tonnes of pollution and foster fossil fuel dependence.
Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous says it’s impossible to overstate the negative impact a massive fossil fuel project on public land could have on the fight against climate change.
“The carbon pollution it will spew into the air will have devastating effects for our communities, wildlife, and the climate,” Jealous said in a statement.
“We will suffer the consequences of this for decades to come.”
To soften the political blow, the administration is moving to limit further development in the region, protecting more than 52,000 square kilometres already designated as ecologically “special areas.”
Biden is also banning future offshore oil and gas leases in a swath of about 11,500 square kilometres beneath the waves of the Arctic Ocean.
Jealous says while the Sierra Club supports the “unparalleled” new protections in the Arctic, green-lighting Willow could mean it’s all for naught.
“The decision to approve the Willow project may very well wipe out many of these climate and ecological benefits,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2023.
