Protests mount against Alaska oil project as Biden administration faces dilemma
Environmental and climate activists are rallying online against the project
Climate activists against the proposed Willow oil and gas drilling project in the northwest US State of Alaska have started online protests as the Biden administration mulls greenlighting it. A Change.org petition has been started which has already garnered nearly three million signatures.
Last week, environmental activists gathered outside the White House and called on President Joe Biden to abort the project. Proposed by ConocoPhillips’, it will be the largest single oil development project under the Biden administration, if granted the nod.
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It is a $6 billion project, located inside the National Petroleum Reserve which is a 23 million-acre area and holds an estimated 600 million barrels of oil. The project aims to pump oil for the next 30 years.
Those in favour of the project argue that it could help Alaska get its economy back on track as the drilling industry has shrunk significantly in the last few decades. Experts say the project has the capability to deliver up to $17 billion in revenue for federal and state governments and local Alaska communities.
Alaska's Republican Senator Dan Sullivan urged the Biden administration to fast-track the project. He said ConocoPhillips will be able to start the project immediately after the Department of Interior gave its nod.
However, given the warming temperatures in the Arctic region, starting a drilling project could have serious ramifications. Thus, many have dubbed it as the ultimate test of Biden's environmental policies.
Last month, the Biden administration said it would support a scaled-back version of the project. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has already narrowed the scope of the project by reducing the number of drilling pads from five to three. Reducing the count below three would make the project economically unviable.
The project was first approved by the Trump administration but a federal judge put a stay on the decision in 2021, saying the environmental analysis was flawed.
(With inputs from agencies)
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