Alaskans are eagerly awaiting 2023, when the Biden administration will finally make a decision on the dangerous, environmentally damaging Willow oil and gas project in the state’s National Petroleum Reserve. There’s a slim chance that it may not move forward if its scope shrinks, or if the Biden administration chooses to recommend a different option from what oil and gas-hungry lawmakers, fossil fuel supporters, and ConocoPhillips have pushed for known as Alternative E.
According to a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), this option would approve four drill sites—down from a proposed five—though that fourth pad would be deferred. Officials are expected to release a final SEIS next month and make a decision in February. The grand hope from ConocoPhillips is that if all goes according to plan, an additional 180,000 barrels of oil will be produced per day from Willow. That would add 284 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over 30 years, going against President Joe Biden’s net-zero pledges
Yet somehow a ConocoPhillips spokesperson maintains that “Willow will produce some of the most environmentally and socially responsible barrels of oil in the world … [Willow will provide] economic and employment opportunities,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. There is nothing responsible about fossil fuel extraction, especially for the communities that will be the most negatively impacted by Willow.
Still, the project somehow has support from some Indigenous groups and unions. When reached by the Anchorage Daily News, a former Alaska Department of Natural Resources commissioner noted that the project seems to have the quiet support of the Biden administration, too. Andy Mack shared his insights and said that the federal government and ConocoPhillips have “done as much to much as they can do to mitigate the impacts.” The paper later notes that in addition to being “chief executive of Kuukpik, the Alaska Native village corporation for Nuiqsut,” he’s also “an oil field services provider.”
It seems the support given for the Willow project comes from individuals who could stand to economically benefit from the project. For those of us more interested in benefitting from a less polluted environment, we’re hoping that the Biden administration changes its quiet cooperation to an equally muted decision to do less with what ConocoPhillips has proposed. As Bloomberg reports, ConocoPhillips will not move forward on the project if it includes less than three drilling locations.
“Anything less than a three-pad authorization would essentially be a project denial. It just wouldn’t be a viable project at that point,” ConocoPhillips President Erec Isaacson said.
According to a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), this option would approve four drill sites—down from a proposed five—though that fourth pad would be deferred. Officials are expected to release a final SEIS next month and make a decision in February. The grand hope from ConocoPhillips is that if all goes according to plan, an additional 180,000 barrels of oil will be produced per day from Willow. That would add 284 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over 30 years, going against President Joe Biden’s net-zero pledges
Yet somehow a ConocoPhillips spokesperson maintains that “Willow will produce some of the most environmentally and socially responsible barrels of oil in the world … [Willow will provide] economic and employment opportunities,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. There is nothing responsible about fossil fuel extraction, especially for the communities that will be the most negatively impacted by Willow.
Still, the project somehow has support from some Indigenous groups and unions. When reached by the Anchorage Daily News, a former Alaska Department of Natural Resources commissioner noted that the project seems to have the quiet support of the Biden administration, too. Andy Mack shared his insights and said that the federal government and ConocoPhillips have “done as much to much as they can do to mitigate the impacts.” The paper later notes that in addition to being “chief executive of Kuukpik, the Alaska Native village corporation for Nuiqsut,” he’s also “an oil field services provider.”
It seems the support given for the Willow project comes from individuals who could stand to economically benefit from the project. For those of us more interested in benefitting from a less polluted environment, we’re hoping that the Biden administration changes its quiet cooperation to an equally muted decision to do less with what ConocoPhillips has proposed. As Bloomberg reports, ConocoPhillips will not move forward on the project if it includes less than three drilling locations.
“Anything less than a three-pad authorization would essentially be a project denial. It just wouldn’t be a viable project at that point,” ConocoPhillips President Erec Isaacson said.