The Biden Administration’s Plan for a Major Oil Drilling Project to Protect the First Alaska Natives: Implications for Earthrights, Nature Conservation, and the Environment
With just a few days to go before the Biden administration makes its decision on the first major oil drilling project of its life, the White House has indicated that it may modify the scope of the controversial project.
Environmental legal group Earthjustice has told CNN it is preparing legal action against the project. Lawyers have already started laying out their legal rationale, saying the Biden administration’s authority to protect surface resources on Alaska’s public lands includes taking steps to reduce planet-warming carbon pollution – which Willow would ultimately add to.
In addition, a surge of online activism against Willow has emerged on TikTok in the last week – resulting in over one million letters being sent to the Biden administration against the project and over 2.8 million signatures on a Change.org petition to halt Willow.
By the administration’s own estimates, the project would generate enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon pollution a year – equivalent to adding 2 million gas-powered cars to the roads. Over the course of 30 years, it would release around 278 million metric tons of carbon pollution, which climate groups say is what more than 70 coal-fired power plants could produce every year.
In a move to assuage the criticism, the Biden administration is looking at reducing the number of approved drilling pads from three to two and offering to boost nature conservation measures elsewhere in the state, according to two sources familiar with the details of the plan.
White House officials are considering cutting the most ecologically sensitive drill site of the three, one source said. And in a final environmental impact statement, the administration described how it would plant trees to mitigate carbon emissions from the project and move some drilling infrastructure to protect local loon habitat.
The Interior department put out a statement saying it had “very serious concerns” regarding the project, and that it included greenhouse gas emissions and impacts.
On Wednesday, Alaska’s Republican Sens. The idea of reducing drill pads to appease environmental groups was slammed by Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, the first Alaska Native in Congress.
Sullivan said they have told them they would view it 100% as a denial if they went to two pads. The White House was warned not to try to be cute when it came to the economic viability of the project.
Even if the administration lands on the project, it will face lawsuits from multiple sides that could keep it from going forward.
If the project is approved a lawsuit will be filed by Earthjustice. And ConocoPhillips could also pursue legal options if the drill pad sites are reduced. ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss said the company is waiting to see a final decision on the project before it shares next steps.
A galvanizing moment of sorts for the biden administration: the Alaskans are outraged by a proposal for a reduction of drill pads
For climate groups that have been celebrating monumental wins in Congress under Biden, the Willow project represents a galvanizing moment of a different kind.
LCV’s senior vice president of government affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld told CNN her group is not negotiating with the Biden administration for a reduced number of drill pads; they still want to see the project canceled.
“It clearly flies in the face of both his incredible climate accomplishments to date and his goal of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030,” Sittenfeld said. “Such significant swaths of the coalition that supports him are deeply opposed, and we’re seeing that this is incredibly galvanizing for young people.”
“There’s a specific thing happening in a physical place; I think it makes it feel more real,” said Jamal Raad, co-founder and executive director for climate and clean energy group Evergreen Action. There is no new voter who will vote for the Biden administration for allowing the largest American oil extraction on public lands.
The project will create jobs, boost domestic energy production and decrease the country’s dependence on foreign oil according to the state’s lawmakers. The three Alaskan lawmakers met with the president and his advisers on March 3 and urged them to approve the project.
“When you talk about environmental justice and protecting the environment, us Alaska natives are part of that environment,” Alaska state Rep. Josiah Patkotak, who has no party affiliation, said on Tuesday. “We’re asking the president, his Cabinet, all those involved in the decision-making process to keep that in mind.”
A final decision on the project is expected next week. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last month said the final decision on Willow rests with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Environmental advocates and lawmakers told CNN they think the White House will make the final call on whether or not to approve Willow.
An Environmentally Threatened Future for the Nuiqsut Oil-Gas Project: a Corresponding Letter to the Mayor Haaland
There is no great state secret that I have been a Republican with this administration. It goes both ways.
The area where the project is planned holds up to 600 million barrels of oil. It would take years to get that oil to the market since the project has not yet been constructed.
In a personal letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the Mayor of Nuiqsut, along with two other Nuiqsut city and tribal officials said that the village would be adversely affected by the project. Other “villages get some financial benefits from oil and gas activity but experience far fewer impacts that Nuiqsut,” the letter reads. Ground zero for the industrialization of the high latitudes.
Jeremy Lieb, an Alaska-based senior attorney at Earthjustice, told CNN that this is a huge climate threat, and that it’s not in line with the promises made by the administration. The project may destroy the habitat for native species and change the migration pattern of animals, as well as concerns about a fast-warming Arctic.
“Why are we not accessing [oil] from a resource where we know our environmental track record is second-to-none?” Murkowski said at a recent press conference that she was a Republican.
During his presidential campaign, Biden vowed to end oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters, as part of an early executive order.