argumentative essay on the willow project

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Why the Willow Project Is a Bad Idea

The oil drilling proposal would be disastrous for Alaska and the planet (not to mention President Biden’s climate legacy).

A view over the northeast section of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management

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While the Biden administration has passed powerful climate-fighting legislation, it has also consistently made moves to placate the oil and gas industry. Such a strategy is counterproductive, to be sure, but the approval earlier this year of the Willow project—a massive, $8 billion ConocoPhillips oil drilling operation on federally protected land on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brook Range—is downright climate sabotage. Environmental groups,  including NRDC , are currently appealing the decision of a U.S. district court judge to allow the project to go forward.

What is the Willow project?

ConocoPhillips, a multinational fossil fuel company with headquarters in Houston, has been drilling in Alaska for decades. Currently, the company owns and manages the only extant drilling operations within the 37,000-square-mile National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), the federally owned parcel of land on the state’s North Slope. As the home to half a million caribou and a crucial nesting ground for millions of migratory birds, the NPR-A is of major ecological significance. The reserve also happens to be the single-largest tract of undisturbed public land in the country. In a corner of Alaska that’s  already suffering from coastal erosion, melting sea ice, and thawing permafrost, the Biden administration is consenting to the extraction of huge amounts of oil that would ultimately make these problems worse (while also exacerbating climate consequences elsewhere on the planet).

Learn More About the Case

Center for Biological Diversity et al. v. Bureau of Land Management et al. (Willow Project)

A map showing the land approved for use in the Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

The Trump administration approved ConocoPhillips’s proposal for Willow in 2020, but a federal judge reversed that approval the following year, citing flaws in the environmental review process. After the ruling, the company modified the plan for Willow in an attempt to address the inadequate review. In 2023, as the deadline for a final White House decision approached and word spread about a possible approval, climate activists mobilized, racking up hundreds of millions of views for the #StopWillow campaign  on social media . Still, in mid-March, the White House announced that it would allow ConocoPhillips to proceed with what would be the country’s  largest oil development project . 

The climate and environmental impacts of Willow

Just a week after the Willow project’s approval, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued  a new report , observing that the world’s governments are currently veering off track from their pledges to keep global average temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all,” the report noted. Once passed, the  1.5 degree-tipping point would precipitate a cascade of devastating effects, including rising sea levels and extreme heat waves, that could lead to millions of deaths worldwide by the end of the century. The only way to prevent the worst from happening, say the IPCC authors, is for the nations of the world to  stop burning fossil fuels —an activity responsible for more than three-quarters of the carbon emissions that are driving global temperatures upward. 

The Biden administration acknowledges that Willow, if completed, would release an additional 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere each year— roughly equivalent to the pollution generated by two million gas-powered cars. Figures such as these have led  Christy Goldfuss , NRDC’s chief policy impact officer, to characterize the decision as “green-lighting a carbon bomb.” On top of the climate devastation, Willow’s development would require the building of hundreds of miles of roads, pipelines, and other infrastructure that would bring harm to the NPR-A’s currently near-pristine ecosystem. Some conservationists estimate the project alone could result in the loss of 532 acres of wetlands, 619 acres of habitat disturbances for  polar bears , and more than 17,000 acres of such disturbances for birds. 

Fighting the Willow project

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency in charge of the approval, has  given the impression that its hands were tied; that ConocoPhillips’s valid leases on NPR-A land meant the administration had little choice but to allow the project to continue. In the end, the agency considered several different project scenarios—but every one of them would have allowed ConocoPhillips to extract more than 90 percent of the oil it sought.

NRDC, in partnership with several other environmental groups,  challenged the agency’s claim that it lacks the authority to limit the scope of the project any further. The lawsuit also asserted that the BLM failed to adequately calculate the full climate impact of other drilling projects that Willow’s infrastructure would welcome into the region. The agency’s own review estimates that Willow alone could yield more than 600 million barrels of oil over the next 30 years. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips—which reported  $18.7 billion in earnings last year—estimates that there might be as many as 3  billion barrels’ worth of oil equivalent to be extracted in nearby areas. As the  Center for American Progress notes, burning that much oil would be “equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of every car, truck, plane, and other form of transportation used in the United States combined.” If ConocoPhillips’s estimates are correct, and the oil industry is allowed to drill in the region to its heart’s content, the result would blow U.S. carbon emissions targets out of reach. 

So far, the Biden administration has shown leadership on climate action. The  Inflation Reduction Act , for instance, invested nearly $370 billion in clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction, making it the single-most significant piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. That achievement and others signaled that this administration was serious about fulfilling President Biden’s pledge to  cut climate pollution in half by 2030.

Yet the Willow project would make reaching this goal much more difficult—and certainly weaken American leadership on the international climate stage at a time when global leaders so urgently need to walk the walk on cutting carbon emissions. Approving Willow is a tragic mistake, one the United States, and the world, can’t afford. 

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

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What is Willow? How an Alaska oil project could affect the environment.

The nation’s largest new oil project has survived an early court challenge, but could dog Biden with questions from young voters and environmentalists.

On March 13, the Biden administration approved one of the largest oil developments on federal land, a decision that came after months of intense lobbying and over objections that the project, known as Willow, would undermine U.S. efforts to phase out fossil fuels worldwide .

For weeks, this Alaskan oil development — more than 4,000 miles from the White House — has become central to the country’s debate over climate change.

It has captivated activists and young people who united online to try to block it. Alaskan leaders and some residents, on the other hand, see it was the most important federal decision facing their state and a potential economic boon .

Oil industry leaders sa y it is key to their future relationship with President Biden, who recently sought to defend the decision during an official visit to Canada. More recently, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland also defended the decision , saying it was “reality" that the U.S. would continue to use oil and gas. A judge on April 3 rejected an early bid to halt the project, but legal proceedings continue.

Here’s what you need to know about Willow.

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How Biden Got From ‘No More Drilling’ to Backing a Huge Project in Alaska

High gas prices, a looming election and fears of a costly legal battle seem to have shifted the political calculus for the president.

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By Lisa Friedman

WASHINGTON — As a candidate, Joseph R. Biden promised voters worried about the warming planet “No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.” On Monday, President Biden approved an enormous $8 billion plan to extract 600 million barrels of oil from pristine federal land in Alaska.

The distance between Mr. Biden’s campaign pledge and his blessing on that plan, known as the Willow project, is explained by a global energy crisis, intense pressure from Alaska lawmakers (including the state’s lone Democratic House member), a looming election year and a complicated legal landscape that government lawyers said left few choices for Mr. Biden.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and one of the chief advocates for Willow, which is projected to generate 2,500 jobs and millions in revenue for her state, said the president was inclined to oppose it and “needed to really be brought around.”

Mr. Biden was acutely aware of his campaign pledge, according to multiple administration officials involved in discussions over the past several weeks. Environmental activists had also openly warned that Mr. Biden’s climate record, which includes making landmark investments in clean energy, would be undermined if he approved Willow, and that young voters in particular could turn against him.

Approval of the Willow project marks a turning point in the administration’s approach to fossil fuel development. Until this point, the courts and Congress have forced Mr. Biden to sign off on some limited oil and gas leases. Willow would be one of the few oil projects that Mr. Biden has approved freely, without a court order or a congressional mandate.

And it comes as the International Energy Agency has said that governments must stop approving new oil, gas and coal projects if the planet is to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Ultimately, the administration made the internal calculation that it did not want to fight ConocoPhillips, the company behind the Willow project.

ConocoPhillips has held leases to the prospective drilling site for more than two decades, and administration attorneys argued that refusing a permit would trigger a lawsuit that could cost the government as much as $5 billion, according to administration officials who asked not to be identified in order to discuss legal strategy.

“The lease does not give Conoco the right to do whatever they want, but it does convey certain rights,” said John Leshy, who served as the Interior Department’s solicitor under President Bill Clinton. “So the administration has to take that into account. I would not say their hands were tied, but their options were limited by the lease rights.”

The leases are basically a contract and if the Biden administration denied the permits, essentially breached the contract, without what a court considered a valid argument, a judge would likely find in favor of the company, Mr. Leshy said. It would be unusual for a court to simply order the government to issue permits; more likely a judge would award damages, he said.

That figure could include not just compensation for investments ConocoPhillips has already made but also profits that the company could have gotten if it had been allowed to drill, Mr. Leshy said, putting a potential judgment into the billions of dollars.

Ms. Murkowski said she believed the legal argument was the turning point for Mr. Biden. “There was no way around the fact that these were valid existing lease rights,” she said. “The administration was going to have to deal with that reality.”

To try to minimize the fallout, the Biden administration demanded concessions. It slashed the size of the project from five drilling sites to three. ConocoPhillips agreed to return to the government leases covering about 68,000 acres in the drilling area, which lies within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. And the administration said it would put in place new protections for a nearby coastal wetland known as Teshekpuk Lake. Those measures would effectively form a “firewall” that would prevent the Willow project from expanding, the administration said.

Mr. Biden also intends to designate about 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean near shore in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska as off limits for future oil and gas leasing. And the Interior Department plans to issue new rules to block oil and gas leases on more than 13 million of the 23 million acres that form the petroleum reserve.

But several of those measures could be revoked by a future administration, and none of them seemed to appease environmental groups, which termed the project a “carbon bomb.”

“The announcement is nothing more than window dressing,” Ben Jealous, president of the Sierra Club, said in an interview. “If President Biden were sitting here I’d tell him don’t spit on us and tell us that it’s raining, Mr. President.”

He called the Willow approval “a major breach of trust” and warned that with it, Mr. Biden has alienated many of his supporters, particularly young voters.

“ President Biden’s decision to move forward with the Willow Project abandons the millions of young people who overwhelmingly came together to demand he stop the project and protect our futures,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate change advocacy group.

Earthjustice, an environmental group, said it would sue to stop the project as soon as Wednesday and expects to be joined by several other organizations. Environmental groups argued that the administration had the legal authority to deny ConocoPhillips a permit and should have done so based on a federal environmental review that found “ substantial concerns ” about the project’s impact on the climate, the danger it poses to freshwater sources and the way it threatens migratory birds, caribou, whales and other animals that inhabit the region.

The Willow project would be constructed on the nation’s largest swath of undeveloped land, about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Some analysts said Mr. Biden’s decision could ultimately help him with moderates and independents, given elevated gas prices amid an energy crisis created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Republican attacks that Democratic climate policies are jeopardizing American energy independence.

“I think the White House feels the president has strong climate credentials now, but that he does need to reach out to working class voters in swing states who care about gasoline prices,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former climate aide in the Clinton administration who now works at the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank.

But Mr. Bledsoe said he also thought the administration needed to make a stronger case publicly that the Willow project will not make a large contribution to the climate crisis.

“The problem with climate is not supply, it’s demand,” he said. “The world is awash in oil and other countries will supply the oil if we don’t. The question is, can we reduce demand through substitute technologies? And that’s where the administration has been very strong.”

The burning of oil produced by the Willow project would cause 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions, according to a federal analysis. On an annual basis, that would translate into 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution, equal to adding nearly two million cars to the roads each year. The United States, the second-biggest polluter on the planet after China, emits about 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

A key factor was the widespread support Willow enjoyed from lawmakers of both parties, including Mary Peltola, a Democrat and the state’s first Alaska Native elected to Congress; labor unions; and most Indigenous groups in Alaska.

In 2021 the Biden administration defended a Trump-era decision to allow the Willow project to go forward. Last year, it issued a new draft environmental statement that signaled support for Willow and in February, a federal analysis telegraphed that the administration would look for ways to approve a limited version of the project.

When advocates met with Deb Haaland, the Interior secretary, in late February in a last-ditch attempt to persuade her to block the permits, she choked up twice and explained that her agency often had to make difficult choices, according to several people who were present. Ms. Haaland had fought the Willow project when she served as a member of Congress before joining the administration.

A few days later, Alaska lawmakers met with Mr. Biden. “I had had enough conversations with people to believe that there was a better-than-even chance it was going to go our way,” Ms. Murkowski said.

On Sunday night, Ms. Haaland’s deputy, Tommy Beaudreau, who grew up in Alaska and is friendly with many of the state’s lawmakers, called Ms. Murkowski and others to walk them through the decision, members of Congress said.

ConocoPhillips praised the approval and said the company expected to immediately begin construction on a gravel road to the drill sites. At its peak, Willow will produce about 180,000 barrels of oil a day, but it will be several years before the crude begins to flow.

Nevertheless, the company, oil industry leaders and the state’s lawmakers cast the approval as a signal that Mr. Biden agreed with their argument that he cannot demand the oil industry ramp up production to keep gas prices low while also imposing restrictions.

“Alaska cannot carry the burden of solving our global warming problems alone,” Ms. Peltola said.

Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, said administration officials have told lawmakers that they will defend the decision in court from environmental groups. Mr. Sullivan said the Alaska delegation and others were already preparing an amicus brief in defense of the decision.

“This is going to be the next hurdle, and it will be a big battle,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Lisa Friedman reports on federal climate and environmental policy from Washington. She has broken multiple stories about the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal climate change regulations and limit the use of science in policymaking. More about Lisa Friedman

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OPINION: For the truth about the Willow project, listen to local communities

FILE - This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska's North Slope. The Biden administration issued a long-awaited study on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, that recommends allowing three oil drilling sites in the region of far northern Alaska. The move, while not final, has angered environmentalists who see it as a betrayal of President Joe Biden's pledges to reduce carbon emissions and promote green energy. (ConocoPhillips via AP)

As elected Iñupiat leaders and lifelong residents of Alaska’s North Slope, we are fiercely proud of our ancestors and their quest for self-determination. Despite living in the most extreme climate in the United States, the Iñupiat have sustained our communities while staying true to our cultural values and traditional subsistence way of living.

Yet when it comes to Alaska’s proposed Willow Project, the voices of the people whose ancestral homeland is most impacted have largely been ignored.

We know our lands and our communities better than anyone, and we know that resource development and our subsistence way of life are not mutually exclusive. Responsible resource development with the inclusion and engagement of North Slope Iñupiat has taken place for over 50 years. It exemplifies a positive model of cultural, economic and ecological interdependence.

Our nation’s past and present have relied on responsible natural resource development, and the sustainability of our Alaska Native communities on the North Slope requires it to be a part of our future.

Located in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), the Willow Project has widespread support across Alaska — especially from the entities that represent the Iñupiat people of the North Slope. Its potential economic benefits would represent a once-in-a-lifetime investment in our region and state, not to mention the entire country.

Willow is expected to generate $1.25 billion in taxes for the North Slope Borough — funding that will be used to provide basic services like education, fire protection, law enforcement and more. The project is also expected to add more than $2.5 billion to the NPR-A Impact Mitigation Grant Program. Our respective cities rely on revenues from this program to fund projects that provide long-term quality-of-life improvements in our communities.

The city of Wainwright has been fortunate to receive NPR-A Impact Mitigation funding since 1994 to support local government operations, including local government and municipal administration, cultural and recreational activities, staff and facilities. Funds since 2007 have gone toward city’s youth program, including providing a safe, supportive environment for youth as well as recreational and cultural activities. Our city park would not be here if not for NPR-A funding, nor would the city’s lagoon boat ramp, used by residents for subsistence activities.

We anticipate future NPR-A grant funding will continue to support important local government and youth programs for the city and, in the long term, will play a critical role in funding a new recreation center for youth and community programs, a replacement of the aging Wainwright City Hall and other important community facilities.

Utqiaġvik is considered the hub of the North Slope, home to 5,000 residents as well as the regional tribal college, hospital and borough government. Funding from NPR-A has already covered fire and alarm security systems in municipal buildings, much-needed renovations to our community recreational center, and a variety of subsistence and recreational operations. Grant funding will help us design a community soup kitchen to ensure our neighbors do not go hungry in winter. We have also been able to purchase equipment to dig graves in year-round permafrost — critical because our city does not have enough freezers to keep the deceased, requiring us to bury a loved one within days even in the dead of winter.

These are not basic services Utqiaġvik takes for granted. We need a stable, healthy economy to continue receiving them.

Here in the North Slope, we straddle the line of a traditional subsistence way of living and the economic realities of the modern world. Yet without critical funds made available through responsible natural resource development, many of our people would be forced to leave the lands they have inhabited for thousands of years, thereby extinguishing many of the important characteristics of Iñupiaq culture.

We never cease to be amazed that our remote corner of the world offers such a valuable resource to the rest of the country and beyond. Resources under our ancestral lands have helped sustain not just the North Slope, but all Alaskans and fellow Americans living in the Lower 48.

For the past 50 years, we have worked to ensure that our ancestral homelands and traditional subsistence lifestyles are protected while development occurs. We are not ready to give up that balance now — and Willow is respectful of the future we envision.

It’s time for Washington, D.C. to listen to the voices of Alaska Native communities on the North Slope and approve Willow without further delay or deferral.

Asisaun Toovak is mayor of the City of Utqiaġvik and Chester Ekak is mayor of the City of Wainwright. Both localities sit in Alaska’s North Slope, the site of the proposed Willow Project.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com . Send submissions shorter than 200 words to [email protected] or click here to submit via any web browser . Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here .

Biden approves Willow Project. What to know about the move to allow oil drilling in Alaska

The controversial Willow Project is set to move forward after a previously uncertain future under President Joe Biden. The administration approved the project Monday despite fierce opposition from environmental groups. 

Here are some things to know about the Willow project:

Massive oil project greenlit: Biden approves massive oil project in Alaska, moves to bar future drilling in Arctic Ocean

What is The Willow Project?

The project is currently the largest proposed oil project on U.S. federal land as ConocoPhillips, a Houston-based petroleum company, looks to drill within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

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ConocoPhillips predicts it could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, which would account for 1.5% of total U.S. oil production. 

Did the Willow Project get approved?

The administration greenlit the project Monday. However, Biden approved a scaled-back version of the plan after the Interior Department only approved three of the five drilling sites proposed by ConocoPhillips.

The exclusion of those additional sites reduced the size of the 200-well project by about 40% and eliminated the need for 11 miles of road, 20 miles of pipelines and 133 acres of gravel. 

The company also agreed to forfeit 68,000 acres of existing leases in the National Petroleum reserve-Alaska to reduce its footprint on the land by one-third.  

Alaska oil drilling: Willow project critics go viral with petition pressuring Biden

Why did Biden approve the Willow Project?

The Biden administration was limited by legal restraints in reviewing the Willow oil project, according to a White House official who said the company had valid rights on the land because of decades-old leases.

The administration was convinced the courts would have blocked an outright rejection of the Willow project and potentially imposed fines on the government, said the official, who spoke about the White House’s considerations on the condition of anonymity. 

What are environmental activists saying?

Two lawsuits were immediately filed by environmentalists and one lawsuit was filed by an Alaska Native group following Biden’s approval of the massive oil project. 

Environmental law firms Earthjustice and Trustees for Alaska both filed separate lawsuits against several federal agencies and some of the administration’s top officials, including the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, citing the irreversible environmental impacts.     

The Willow Project faced a similar challenge in 2021, with U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason blocking the project after it was first approved by the Trump administration in 2020. Gleason struck down the project under the National Environmental Policy Act, citing issues with the approval process and inadequate consideration of the full-scale climate consequences.

Where is The Willow Project in Alaska?

The project will be located in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska , which spans approximately 23 million acres on the Beaufort Sea north of the Arctic Circle and about 200 miles west of existing oilfields at Prudhoe Bay.

When is The Willow Project starting?

A date to begin the newly approved project has not yet been announced. 

Contributing: Joey Garrison, Trevor Hughes and Nada Hassanein, The Associated Press

VOICES FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability science blog by University of Helsinki

Weeping Willow: What Alaskan Indigenous perspectives of the Willow Project can tell us about climate justice in the Arctic

Photo by Chris Stenger on Unsplash

In the Arctic, changes to the climate and biodiversity are leading to irrevocable losses of cultural identity and livelihoods for Indigenous peoples. Regardless, new projects for fossil fuel extraction continue to be approved in the area, including the massive oil drilling venture known as “the Willow Project.”

This blog post seeks to shed light on the complexity of local Indigenous viewpoints regarding Willow. Inuit perspectives are far from unanimous, and some have even argued in support of the project. This multiplicity of Inuit viewpoints underlines the importance of including Indigenous peoples in early planning and decision-making, rather than simply assuming their standpoints based on essentialist stereotypes of Indigeneity . 

What is Willow?

The Willow Project is a massive oil drilling venture operated by ConocoPhillips on Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. The Trump administration had originally approved five drilling areas in 2020, but, due to a court order in 2021, this was reduced to three sites . Finally, the Biden administration, acting in direct contradiction to presidential campaign promises to stop oil drilling, approved the project. Thus, local residents to the area could not have had their voices heard in the matter by voting. Furthermore, the local Indigenous groups, who are most affected by the project, only represent 5% of voters in Alaska, minimizing their voices drastically.

Willow will release devastating amounts of emissions. Environmental groups have estimated that over the course of 30 years it would generate an amount of carbon pollution equal to driving roughly 56 million cars for one year. This will contradict efforts to reach emission reduction targets and keep global warming below 1.5ºC.

Mapping Inuit perspectives: Viewpoints against Willow

Collective organizations representing Inuit perspectives tend to oppose Willow. Among strong opponents is the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), which has prepared an action against Willow. According to SILA, Willow is incompatible with combatting the climate crisis and poses threats to ecosystem health, local food security, and mental wellbeing, which can, for example, increase suicides in Arctic Slope communities, and would give little to no jobs to local residents. Based on these risks, 38 Indigenous-led organizations have signed a letter to stop Willow . Further, the Native Village of Nuiqsut has confronted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for ignoring local concerns and mistranslating them in order to move forward with the project. 

Considering how the survival of Indigenous peoples’ traditions in Alaska is threatened not only due to settler colonialism, but also rapid environmental change, it seems logical for Alaskan Inuit to oppose the Willow project.

Photo by Joe on Pixabay

Mapping Inuit perspectives: Viewpoints in support of Willow

Indigenous peoples’ viewpoints should not be reduced to only those expressed by Native organizations or councils, as there is diversity of thought within these communities. Some Indigenous people see potential benefits in the Willow Project, including the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat’s President Sayers Tuzroyluk, who highlights that responsible Arctic development provides job opportunities for communities and a revenue base that enables municipal governments to provide basic services. Similarly, some see Willow as vital for Alaska’s economy, America’s energy security, and further to the modernization of the North Slope region . They emphasize the rights of Native people to extract resources on their own land, while also pointing out long histories of colonization.

Taking a moderate stance, the village corporation for Nuiqsut, Kuukpik, has collaborated with the BLM on developing a version of Willow that it could support. Kuukpik seeks to pursue possibilities of economic growth while cherishing cultural heritage , specifically through looking beyond typical oilfield jobs and fostering culturally-appropriate revenue sources.

These viewpoints in support of Willow indicate that like any other people, Indigenous individuals and communities may seek to increase their prosperity through economic activities, including the exploitation of land resources. It is also an indisputable fact that colonization and the fragmentation of Indigenous lands have undermined the profitability of many traditional livelihoods, so that today’s Indigenous peoples have no choice but to seek alternative sources of income for their livelihoods.

Colonial and Environmental Injustice

Since the first contact of explorers in the 1600s, the Inuit and other Natives have faced a radical reorganization of their socio-environmental systems. Although this change was prompted by settler-colonialism, we cannot assume that all Indigenous people prefer a pre-colonial status quo. By denying Indigenous peoples the right to decide if/when to develop or industrialize their land, the settler state forces them into harmful stereotypes of primitivism. This case study demonstrates precisely how Inuit people have diverse opinions of land governance, undermining the essentialized stereotypes that have been imposed on them.

Regardless, it is impossible to ignore the harm that would come from adding an additional 277 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, in direct contradiction to international agreements to reduce carbon emissions. As with all climate actions, the first to experience the consequences will be those on the frontlines – including Arctic Indigenous peoples.

Other Arctic nations – like Norway – are still approving new oil and gas projects, even as Arctic Indigenous communities continue to fight for the right to sovereignty. Some of these projects have been approved in traditional Indigenous lands, which poses significant threats to livelihoods and cultural practices. For Alaskan Native communities, managing Arctic resources is vital to sustaining their rights to food sovereignty, cultural heritage, and self-governance, all of which are central to the health of Indigenous lands and bodies. When these rights are denied – whether through legislation, commerce, or climate change – the colonial violence against Indigenous peoples is perpetuated as environmental injustice .

Conclusions

The Willow Project is a reminder of the struggle between economic development and environmental conservation in the Arctic. Despite the devastating impact of climate change on local Indigenous communities, the approval of the project with minimal input from these groups highlights the need to prioritize their complex and diverse voices in decisions that affect their land and lives.

Ultimately, incorporating Indigenous viewpoints into planning and decision-making processes can promote more equitable and sustainable Arctic governance. The Inuit would benefit from strengthening their economy and energy security in ways that do not accelerate Arctic warming. This would require the U.S. to invest in the development of infrastructure in Alaska while cultivating a willingness to engage Indigenous peoples in maintaining regional biodiversity , so that their ecological knowledge and cultural know-how could be included in the formulation of regional solutions.

Box, J. et al. 2019. Key indicators of Arctic climate change: 1971–2017. Read 9.5.2023 at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aafc1b

Brower, H. Jr. & Edwardsen, A. 2022. My Native Alaskan Community Needs the Willow Oil Project. Opinion. WSJ . Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-native-alaskan-community-needs-the-willow-oil-project-inupiat-gas-subsistence-municipal-goverment-economy-11664220998

Chiappinelli, J. 2023. Earthjustice Reacts to Biden Administration’s Approval of Willow Project in Alaska, Earthjustice, March 13 th . Available at: https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/earthjustice-reacts-to-biden-administrations-approval-of-willow-project-in-alaska  

Farah, N. H. 2023. Environmental and Indigenous Groups Sue over Willow Oil-Drilling Project, Scientific American , March 15 th . Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-and-indigenous-groups-sue-over-willow-oil-drilling-project/

Kuukpik Corporation. 2022. Kuukpik Corporation Comments on the BLM’s Second Draft Supplemental EIS for the Willow MDP and ANILCA Section 810 Analysis. Available at: https://www.silainuat.org/protect-teshekpuk

Kuukpik Corporation. 2023. Mission Statement & Values. Available at: https://www.kuukpik.com/corporation/mission-statement-values/

Native Village of Nuiqsut (NVN) & City of Nuiqsut. 2023. NVN and City of Nuiqsut Comments regarding BLM Willow MDP Preliminary Final FSEIS. Available at: https://www.silainuat.org/protect-teshekpuk

Simonelli, I. 2020. The Art of Arctic Negotiations. Finding Balance and identifying ‘who’s at the table’ is critical to development. Alaska Business. 37(7). Available at: https://digital.akbizmag.com/issue/july-2020jp/the-art-of-arctic-negotiation/?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=feature&utm_campaign=july2020

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA). 2023. Willow Master Development Plan and the Climate Crisis. Grasping straws in a dying industry. Read 9.5.2023 at: https://www.silainuat.org/protect-teshekpuk

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA). 2023. 38 Indigenous Led Organizations Sign On To Stop Willow Plan. Published 31.1.2023. Read 9.5.2023 at: https://www.silainuat.org/news/38-indigenous-led-organizations-sign-on-to-stop-willow-plan

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Alaska Wilderness League, Environment America, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Sierra Club, & The Wilderness Society. 2023. Complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. pp 63. Read 9.5.2023 at: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/eenews/f/eenews/?id=00000186-e1d3-d3d0-a3e6-f7d78a3c0000

Toivanen, R. and Fabritius, N. 2020. Arctic Youth transcending notions of ‘culture’ and ‘nature’: emancipative discourses of place for cultural sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 43:58–64. Read 9.5.2023 at:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343520300105

Students from the course ECGS-036 Arctic and Human Beings

Ellen Haaslahti, 014920082, [email protected]

Lotta Haataja, 014647349, [email protected]

Martha Madrid 015821973, [email protected]

Edda Sundström, 017298562, [email protected]

Lotta Voutilainen, 014921528, [email protected]

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Will the Willow Project be approved and what consequences might we see?

U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration have advanced on a decision that could allegedly damage our climate beyond repair, but what is the Willow Project and how will it change the world around us?

The Biden Administration has been weighing its options concerning the potential approval of what is known as The Willow Project, located on the Alaskan North Slope. It appears the chances of its approval are on the rise.

Karlin Nageak Itchoak, Senior Regional Director at the non-profit Wilderness Society, has been fighting against the project, citing that “Willow is a carbon bomb that cannot be allowed to explode in the Arctic.”

With the Arctic already warming four times faster  than the rest of the world, can we afford to prioritize economic growth over the planet?

What is the Willow Project?

The $8 Billion drilling project known as the Willow project is the proposal to create new oil fields on the Alaskan North Slope. Allegedly, by cultivating and undertaking the oil project, the U.S. Government can produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, 1.5% of the total U.S. oil production.

Project builders ConocoPhillips Alaska have proposed five drilling sites following previous concerns about potential locations.

If approved, the project would represent the biggest U.S. oil field in decades.

Ongoing environmental concerns

Although the Willow Project has the potential to be extremely lucrative for the United States, evidence has shown that the project would produce the equivalent of more than 278 million tonnes (306 million short tonnes) of greenhouse gases over its 30-year life.

“278 million tonnes of greenhouse gases over 30 years”

This number is roughly equal to the combined emissions from two million passenger cars over the same time period.

Action Network and many others have been campaigning against the proposal , stating, “The Willow Project will be devastating for all those that call the Arctic home. The noise, traffic, and pollution the project brings will disrupt ecosystems that Indigenous Alaskans have relied on for millennia. And the project threatens the already vulnerable caribou population — a vital resource many native communities rely on.”

Is there support for the Willow Project?

Widespread political support for the project can be found in Alaska, including politicians and state lawmakers.

Supporters have called the project “balanced” and say communities would benefit from taxes generated by it. They say these would be used to invest in infrastructure and provide public services in the area.

Is the president going back on his promises?

Activists have been calling out president Biden over the project, arguing that he is backtracking on his campaign statements and beliefs.

Since his election campaign, the 80-year-old president has publicly made fighting climate change a top priority. Having backed a landmark law to accelerate the expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power and move the US away from the use of oil, coal and gas, many see this new potential oil project as a betrayal.

“Our Native villages are eroding into the sea, thawing permafrost is making infrastructure insecure, and food sources are disappearing,” Itchoak said. “And this project would just exacerbate and speed up the climate crisis in the Arctic .”

According to the Guardian, “it’s outrageous that Biden seems ready to greenlight the massively destructive Willow project, prioritizing oil industry profits over the future of polar bears and other Arctic wildlife,” said Kristen Monsell, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’ll keep fighting it until it’s scrapped.”

Having promised to end federal oil and gas drilling, Biden has pushed towards renewable energy; however, as oil prices continued to rise due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the president has faced further pressure to increase drilling.

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54 comments.

I hate the Willow project stop it please please

PAREM DE DESTRUIR O PLANETA POR DINHEIRO VOCÊS JÁ CONSEGUIRAM PEGAR METADE DA MORADIA DELES PARA FAZER SUAS CASAS É CIDADES NÃO PEGUEM O RESTO POR FAVOR!!

Translation:

Stop destroying the planet for money you have already managed to get half of their housing to make your houses and cities don’t get the rest please!!

This is just wrong. If the willow project is happening we all gonna die. The ice will melt and the water will rise. We are destroying our HOME. STOP THIS

Stop this I’m scared because I want to have a family and a good life, I am a child, it’s not normal a child be scared because a lot of dumb people want money and will destroy the earth

they have a point ya know

O dinheiro não deveria valer mais que nosso planeta,isso que eles estão fazendo vai destruir o nosso planeta,parem com isso,isso é burrice, bando de sem noção. TENHAM EMPATIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Money shouldn’t be worth more than our planet, what they are doing is going to destroy our planet, stop it, that’s stupid, bunch of clueless. HAVE EMPATHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PAREM DE DESTRUIR O PLANETA!!!!!!!

STOP DESTROYING THE PLANET!!!!!!!

Pela mor de Deus,parem de destruir o planeta terra só por causa de dinheiro

For the love of God, stop destroying planet earth just for money

o dinheiro não é melhor que a nossa vida e a vida dos animais, nós merecemos uma vida tranquila e feliz nesse mundo, parem de ter olho grande em dinheiro e fazer de tudo pra ter ele, vocês são cruéis e sem coração, deixem os animais em paz, eles e nós não merecemos isso !! #stopthewillow

Money is not better than our life and the lives of animals, we deserve a peaceful and happy life in this world, stop having a big eye on money and doing everything to have it, you are cruel and heartless, leave the animals in peace, they and we do not deserve this !! #stopthewillow

stop the willow project

We are seriously ruining the planet and countless lives because of something that is cut from trees that now controls our life, I’m a child and I used to only worry about things like quicksand, it has been 3 years and now I worry about if there will even be a planet left to live on by the time I can vote.

Why does biden do this. Ik for money but what?!

because he wants even a small chance of winning the next election. his approval ratings are low enough that he’s willing to do anything to get gas prices down, cause that’s what everyone has been blaming him for.

Dinheiro não é tudo na vida!!! Parem destruir o nosso planeta, vocês são gananciosos tem milhares de dores e ainda quer mais?? O que vocês vão fazer vai ter um impacto enorme nas nossas vidas e principalmente na vida dos animais, eles são preciosos para a natureza e os animais não merece sofrer por arrogância de vocês.

Money is not everything in life!!! Stop destroying our planet, you are greedy, you have thousands of pains and still want more?? What you are going to do will have a huge impact on our lives and especially on the lives of animals, they are precious to nature and animals do not deserve to suffer because of your arrogance.

Please stop this project! It’s impact to our world a lot

Please stop it

Why do this all for a piece of paper called money. It isnt right, the earth is our home guys and we are already destroying it by cutting down trees now they want to increase global warming and make earth die faster, it isnt fair that animals are always the ones to suffer for the benefits and wants of humans, the arctic is already deteriorating as we speak why would you want to kill it all for the love of money. Where will the penguins and polar bears live and what about the beautiful ocean that has over millions of creatures in it where will they go. How would they feel if someone chased them away from their home and had no where else to go. its sad what this world has come to all because of money .

Why would President Joe do this? Money isn’t even worth life nor time. President Joe said he would protect the world and will protect us. But look, Alaska will be drilled a hole and he will get 8bill.

I AGREE 100%!

I can’t believe this might actually go ahead! STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!

Parar o projeto willow

Stop the willow project

Parem com essa ideia maluca o Alaska importa! VIDAS de animais importa! Por favor pense nisso!

Stop this crazy idea Alaska matters! Animal LIVES matter! Please think about it!

PLEASE STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT !!! You’re not just hurting the planet but you’re also hurting you!!! We can die from this willow project! money isn’t worth us dying! PLEASE HELP PROTECT THE PLANET!!

STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT!!!

We thought joe Biden was a good person.. he promised he would protect the world and protect us.. I even thought he was a good guy!!!! But no.. he lied and decided that he would damage the world just for money.. money is just paper .. it’s not worth anything. I hope he realizes what he has done and what a beautiful home we have but he just wants to damage it.. I hope he realizes.

PLEASE HELP STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT!!!

Pofavor não, apenas não, não, não é não E sério que o dinheiro é mais importante que o mundo?????

Please no, just no, no, no it’s no And seriously, money is more important than the world?????

yea, like is alaska and its life worth only 8billion? aslo how can it be worth money. its a living thing, it effects everyone.

BIDEN IS A MONSTER STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT

Please, PLEASE STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT!!!

biden is choosing to take our lives, hurting his “supporters” that he no longer has, hurting animals hurting climate. he is a horrible person if he confirms this he’s basically going to kill a bunch of animals and people due to his behaviour and choices. i’m only 11 years old and i might not even be able to get to the age of 20. i hate biden, if i die due to the project that MAY happen i’m blaming him.

I’m only a 14 year old teenager. I am scared to death of this situation. I’ve always been dreaming of meeting my long distant partner. I don’t want to die before being able to do that. Why is our society like this? All just for the money. Destroying our earth… ruining everything. What is wrong with this world.

I’ve been crying over this for hours. I can’t… I really hope that this doesn’t continue. This could kill all of us. That’s what i’m most afraid of. Death.

Stop destroying the planet please money isn’t worth destroying the planet and killing us, if you destroy the planet you won’t even have money because he would be dead so why do it? For greed? Or do you just want us all to die? I’m 11 and my friends and I are scared thinking all of the animals are going to die and in the future our children well not live the same life we did. We all might die when we’re 20 I know he said yes today but I hope he changes his mind and Votes Against the willow project. If he kills me and everything I love I blame him.

Before today we thought nothing was was worth more than our beautiful planet, but Biden clearly has different opinions, clearly he thinks money is worth more than the lovely environment where we live learn and love. We are only children of 11 but we even understand the consequences of our actions and doings. The environment is one of our unstressed vowel spelling words ,but really we should stress about it! This time yesterday we were laughing and playing in our lush world of nature, but now as we look outside our windows ,we can tell our world is angry, so we are to, we WILL do what we can to save the world If you agree don’t just sit on your bed mourning like we did, do something you may think your only one person who can’t do anything but your one of many and many can do a lot. So politicians, president and any one who can help our world, save us… and the earth with us. So please listen and do what you can to help because a little can do so much. Thank you in advance with all hope Velvet, Ella and Lucy

Why is this happening is money better than living ? Is money more valuable ? Why are we doing this ? Why are we drilling if we will die ? What’s the point ? What do we do ? Why should we do this ? There are so many questions but I bet the kids parents fell very stupid after they realise after this there kid will not have a good life and have to suffer to live through all of this pain and torture. Why are we risking every thing for money ? But I know one thing for sure money got the better of us

STOP THE WILLOW PROJECT ITS KILLING OUR EARTH AND HE WILL MAKE THE CLIMATE CHANGE EVEN WORSE. IM 11 YEARS OLD SCARED FOR MY LIFE AND MY FRIEND AND ME ARE NOT SUPPORTING THIS. THIS NEEDS TO STOP

all we have to do is try send emails to biden trying to stop this grobal problem

I’m going to make a few controversial statements here but have an open mind.

1. Yes – we need to de-carbonise our economies to slow , halt and hopefully reverse global warming.

2. That costs money. The US Government under Biden has done more than any other government in this regard – the subsidies being offered to the US citizens to make EV’a more affordable are a huge (and costly) initiative.

3. (The controversial part) the Willow Project in itself will not add more carbon to the atmosphere than would otherwise be used – it is simply a new source that means the US government doesn’t have to pay foreign countries for the oil that would be used anyway. If the Willow Project does not go ahead the same amount of oil will be consumed – just from foreign sources which means the cost of living in the US goes up. Biden is allowing this project to go ahead because he can use the $$ to fund the subsidies needed to make renewable energy more accessible.

4. If he didn’t allow this, then the inflation gets worse, most of the US voters get angry about paying higher $ to fill their cars and pay for groceries- so what do they do ? Vote for Trump.

5. Trump gets in and there goes the whole green agenda, renewables get shelved, Eva subsidies gone – and the world gets a whole lot hotter faster

Summary- it’s the lesser of 2 evils. The oil pumped out of the Willow project will pretty much equal the amount that won’t get pumped out of Saudi Arabia etc- it by itself will not cause global oil consumption to go up, it will just mean a local source of oil instead of a foreign source which means more $$ for the US to spend on the projects to transition to renewables and less likelihood that Trump or whatever conservative ends up contesting the next election wins.

Trust me – what would be much worse than the Willow project going ahead is the Republicans winning the next US Presidential election.

Hi my name is Lily and I am terrified of the weather project because just think about it if you wanna have a family I might not even be able to have a great grandchildren I have a grand children you’re putting all these lives at risk and it’s bad when regular people that aren’t scientist can see it when you guys can’t I would put a stop to this at least we know how much a republic is involved and wants to stop but people be able to live the life’s like I’m just thinking about it and you might not even be able to grandchildren so I might be 40 or 50 or 60 by the time all the metric tons something at least then then what are you gonna be dead am I just now to stop living not gonna be able to reflect the rest of my life normally like how I wanted it to know life isn’t fair but this is not life making the decision it’s a person so if we cannot see that it’s bad and we’re regular people and we’re pointing out things that are bad that’s gonna do but you can’t point out one good thing oh we’re gonna get some money off of it you can’t eat money you can’t breathe money you can’t have funMoney will never make you happy and that’s what they think it does because they’re all up in the penthouse when they know things are hard gas is up to Hy’s I’ll ridiculous oh we’re not getting the money you are but we are the ones who after supper so I want somebody to stop this because they’re thousands and thousands of people millions and millions of people that agree that this is bad please stop

Just stop it people shouldn’t have been worried about this

I’m 11 years old about to be 12 and I shouldn’t be on this trying to tell people how bad it is it’s bad that I can tell dad I am scared for the rest of my life Am I friends with just everybody this is stupid and ridiculous I don’t see anybody else panicking you should be because who knows what will survive they’re just guessing how much there is there could be more he doesn’t know what he’s doing and I live in Canada and I am it’s all over the news it’s everywhere people were scared at school crying cause I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to ever see these people again

I am turning 12 this next wens-day And I was on my TikTok and saw Joe Biden accepted the willow project.

I don’t approve of the willow project because I don’t think Joe Biden knows that it will kill everything on the earth and that’s including him and if kids watch the news with there parents how do you think they feel how do you think the parents feel when there kids ask “mom, dad what is the willow project”?

The parents have to tell them because they don’t want to lie to there kids they are probably so scared and traumatized right now.

if this message doesn’t change anything then than it proves that you don’t care about other people,kids,and animals lives. And it will be scary for kids in the future because they won’t know what to expect in there life they will never be able to live a normal life like we used to.

I am almost 12 and scared I might to die.

I hate this project it’s killing earth u want money why Biden and the other ppl have already enough money why do they need more it’s also killing the animal’s

Stop The willow project! Please!! What is the cost of your actions!

Breathe everyone! Reread the reasonable comments from Mike Dundee on March 16th. This crisis is everyone’s problem.

Unless you live in a tent, don’t waste electricity on heat, or air conditioning, or your cellphones and computers, or driving/riding in a car and having fun going wherever you want to go when you want something you don’t make for yourself from natural materials at home you are part of the problem!!

Write to President Biden and express your logical concerns and ideas. But don’t just ignorantly blame him – he does care, he will listen. And he is and will try to strike a best balance.

If we were not so selfish to have had more babies than the earth can support we would not be in this position. That has been a clear fact for 50 years at least!!!

Personal Responsibility is a myth. In the grand scheme of things, you and your community don’t contribute much to climate change. The Military Industrial Complex, Oil and gas tycoons, Unsustainable agricultural industries, and uncapped mining are the true causes of climate change. They invented personal responsibility to wash their hands of the matter while we all argue about something that doesn’t matter.

whats the point in get a load of money if the worlds going to end so we will be all dead before he gets to spend it

Stop willow project its so bad.

In conclusion, the approval of the Willow Project could be a game-changer for clean energy advancement, but it must be accompanied by careful planning and consideration of potential consequences. Striking the right balance between environmental conservation and sustainable development is crucial to ensure a brighter, greener future for generations to come.

We may not be able to stop Joe Biden in time before they start the willow project oil drilling in 2027 but what we can do to help them (in a different manner), the earth and humanity is to do the following:

1 – Don’t lose hope! We can still help to save the world! Sure, some of us might see ourselves as non-heroes but I’m telling you, we can! Every little helps us and our beautiful planet we call Earth!

2 – Keep continuing to recycle and reuse stuff whether it’s stuff like plastic bottles, cardboard etc or not! I’m into crafting and I love to reuse old pieces of used rubbish. By reusing stuff, we are reducing the risk of hurting the Earth and crafting old recycled stuff into new items and/ or decorations for your home is one way to reduce the risk of hurting the natural environment! Plus, making stuff can be so much fun!

3 – Stop littering! Littering is causing many species of animals to die and we should have some respect to our litter pickers and our bin men who help the Earth by picking up and throwing away tons of rubbish and helping stop global warming from getting worse! They don’t seem to get much help so why don’t we help them? You can take a carrier bag and go around beaches, parks etc picking up rubbish and throwing it in the bins we have in our towns.

4 – To reduce the risk of air pollution, we can:

– start walking, riding our bikes and scooters to get around places instead of using public transportation and driving. – We can also turn off our electronic devices (phones, tablets, computers etc) when we’re done using them, – Start putting house plants in your house to improve the air quality, avoid smoking, forest fires, crackers and other sources of combustion, – use fans, blankets and clothing to keep warm/ cool instead of using air conditioners, – use filters for chimneys, air scrubbing tech and residential air cleaners – and lastly, start using VOC-free building materials and furnishing!

5 – Stop deforestation. If you need wood, at least replant the tree again so the trees can continue to produce oxygen for us, plants and animals. If you’ve watched The Lorax, you might understand this next part. If we continue to chop down trees, we might not be able to have any trees to help us produce oxygen, resulting in the deaths of many people, animals and plant life. Start replanting!

6 – Start helping to clean the ocean! Not only do trees and plants help us breathe, the ocean does as well. Let me explain the water cycle, the water from the ocean gets evaporated which become clouds that are then condensed which gives us rain and snow. The water from the rain then go lakes, then streams and then back to the ocean to start the cycle again which will start again and so on.

7 – if you know any other ways to somehow help the gas prices go up again and without them having to drill a hole in Alaska, please do!

Once all of these problems are solved, we’ll be back to normal, we’ll live long amazing lives and we’ll never have to worry about money or the earth ever again cuz these problems will be solved!

Thank you for reading, I hope in the future we’ll be able to live normally and happily again. And have a great day/ night!

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Biden approves controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska

Environmentalists and some Alaskan Native communities had opposed the plan over climate, wildlife and food-shortage fears

The Biden administration has approved a controversial $8bn (£6bn) drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, which has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists and some Alaska Native communities, who say it will speed up the climate breakdown and undermine food security.

The ConocoPhillips Willow project will be one of the largest of its kind on US soil, involving drilling for oil and gas at three sites for multiple decades on the 23m-acre National Petroleum Reserve which is owned by the federal government and is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the US.

It will produce an estimated 576m barrels of oil over 30 years, with a peak of 180,000 barrels of crude a day. This extraction, which ConocoPhillips has said may, ironically, involve refreezing the rapidly thawing Arctic permafrost to stabilize drilling equipment, would create one of the largest “carbon bombs” on US soil, potentially producing more than twice as many emissions than all renewable energy projects on public lands by 2030 would cut combined.

In its decision, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management said that the approval “strikes a balance” by allowing ConocoPhillips to use its longstanding leases in the Arctic while also limiting drilling to three sites rather than five, which the company wanted.

But the approval has been met with outrage among environmental campaigners and Native representatives who say it fatally undermines Joe Biden’s climate agenda. In all, the project is expected to create about 260m tons of greenhouse gases over its lifespan, the equivalent of creating about 70 new coal-fired power plants.

“Approving the Willow Project is an unacceptable departure from President Biden’s promises to the American people on climate and environmental justice,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, a climate group.

“After all that this administration has done to advance climate action and environmental justice, it is heartbreaking to see a decision that we know will poison Arctic communities and lock in decades of climate pollution we simply cannot afford.”

The approval came as the interior department announced it was going to ban any future oil and gas drilling in the US Arctic Ocean, as well as protect millions of acres of Alaska land deemed sensitive to Native communities. But the Willow decision has still stirred anger.

“The Biden administration’s approval makes it clear that its call for climate action and the protection of biodiversity is talk, not action,” said Sonia Ahkivgak, social outreach coordinator at the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic group.

“The only reasonable solution to the climate emergency is to deny new fossil fuel projects like Willow. Our fight has been long and also it has only begun. We will continue to call for a stop to Willow because the lives of local people and future generations depend on it.”

Opposition to the project has included more than a million letters sent to the White House, a Change.org petition with more than 3 million signatories, and a viral #stopwillow campaign waged on TikTok as well as other social media. The approval of the project is almost certain to face legal challenges.

On Friday, former US vice-president Al Gore told the Guardian that projects of its kind are “recklessly irresponsible” and that allowing it would cause “climate chaos”.

The approval comes after an environmental impact assessment was published last month by the US interior department, which recommended a scaled-back version of the project, reducing the number of sites from five to three, which ConocoPhillips Alaska said it considered a viable option.

“Willow is a carbon bomb that cannot be allowed to explode in the Arctic,” Karlin Nageak Itchoak, the senior regional director at the non-profit Wilderness Society, said after the assessment was published in early February.

According to the Native Movement, a grassroots Alaska-based collective, Willow developers have done little research on the impact of the cumulative projects across the Arctic slope of Alaska – the birthing grounds of the 60,000 Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, which are a historically important food source. Residents of Nuiqsut, the closest Alaska Native community, have spoken out about sick fish, malnourished caribou and toxic air quality, directly caused by existing oil and gas extraction within their homelands.

Approval has come after a long contentious process.

After the project was given the green light by the Trump White House, a federal judge reversed that decision, ruling that an earlier environmental review was flawed.

Alongside the interior department’s February review, officials expressed “substantial concerns” about even the scaled-back plan’s impact on wildlife and Native communities.

Alaska’s two Republican senators and the state’s sole congressional representative, a Democrat, had urged the administration to approve the project, which they say would boost the state’s economy.

Some Alaska Native tribal organizations, including the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and the Alaska Federation of Natives, have supported the project for similar reasons.

The deal will make it “possible for our community to continue our traditions, while strengthening the economic foundation of our region for decades to come,” according to Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat group.

But environmental groups and tribes including those in Nuiqsut have countered that any jobs and money the project brings in the short term will be negated by the environmental devastation in the long run.

Alaska is at the forefront of the climate breakdown, caused by burning fossil fuels, and communities surrounded by oil and gas operations are already suffering poor air and water quality, health disparities and reduced food sources. The Nuiqsut mayor, Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, whose community of about 525 people is the closest to the proposed development, is a prominent opponent, who has called the project a “climate disaster waiting to happen”. She said it will negatively affect the livelihoods and health of community members.

Biden suspended oil and gas lease sales after taking office and promised to overhaul the government’s fossil fuels program. However, the administration dropped its resistance to leasing in a compromise over last year’s climate law.

The administration’s continued embrace of oil and gas drilling has caused consternation among Democrats, with two dozen progressive members of Congress recently writing to Biden, warning that the Willow project will “pose a significant threat to US progress on climate issues”. The group called upon the president to block an “ill-conceived and misguided project”.

The Biden administration has offered less acreage for lease than previous administrations. But environmentalists say the administration has not done enough . The US interior secretary, Deb Haaland, in a recent interview declined direct comment on Willow but said that “public lands belong to every single American, not just one industry”.

Increased oil and gas extraction in the Alaska region has already affected caribou populations, which several communities in the area hunt for subsistence.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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The dubious economic calculus behind the Willow project

The conocophillips venture is supposed to secure energy independence and alaskan prosperity. it probably won’t achieve either..

President Joe Biden’s decision to approve the massive Willow oil project earlier this week infuriated climate advocates and environmentalists while drawing praise from Alaska politicians and oil industry figures. As the Biden administration weighed the benefits and drawbacks of the project over the past year, the latter camp argued that the project would help replace Russian oil supplies as well as deliver an economic boon for Alaskans.

The Willow project’s champions have stressed the need for the U.S. to achieve energy independence in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said last month that Willow could help “reduce our energy imports from some of the worst regimes in the world.” Mary Peltola, a Democratic representative and Alaska Native who was elected to Congress last year, said just last week that the project could “make us all safer in a world that has grown more unpredictable after Russia invaded Ukraine.”

There’s no doubt that the Willow project, led by ConocoPhillips, represents the largest new Alaskan oil project in decades. At full capacity, it could increase total oil production in the state by more than a third . But experts told Grist that the energy and economic benefits of the project are smaller and less certain than its boosters have suggested. Not only will the Willow project provide an insufficient substitute for Russian oil, but it will also deliver an ambiguous mix of costs and benefits to Alaska state coffers, which have long relied on fossil fuel revenue that is increasingly hard to come by — even with new drilling in the Arctic.

It’s not clear how much the Willow project would help replace Russian oil supplies. First there’s the matter of timing: The project will not deliver its first barrels until 2028 or 2029, and it will take even longer for all three well pads that the Biden administration approved to start producing at full capacity. It’s possible the global oil supply picture will look very different by then: Western countries may have access to new sources of oil, like recent offshore projects in places like Guyana, and where crude prices will be is anyone’s guess.

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Second, the particular kind of oil that Willow will produce isn’t a perfect substitute for the oil that the U.S. once bought from Russia. The chemistry of petroleum beneath Alaska’s North Slope is different from both light shale oil and the heavier oil that tends to come from places like Russia and Venezuela, so it will need to be blended with other oil in order to enter domestic refineries, which are mostly designed to refine specific types of crude. That’s why the United States kept importing oil even after the fracking boom began, and it’s why much of Willow’s oil wouldn’t replace imports from other countries.

“Alaska remains an important energy state, but it will not make or break the nation’s energy independence in the coming decades,” Phil Wight, an assistant professor of history and northern studies at the University Alaska Fairbanks, told Grist. 

Indeed, the federal Bureau of Land Management’s own analysis found that Willow’s effect on the global energy market and American energy independence will be muted. According to the Bureau’s final environmental impact statement, only around half of the oil produced from the project will replace foreign imports from tankers and pipelines, with around 30 percent replacing other oil extracted in the United States. 

Furthermore, the project’s position on the North Slope of Alaska will constrain potential demand for the new crude from refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, since it would need to travel through the Panama Canal to get there. The top domestic markets for the oil will be California, Oregon, and Washington, three states that are all making aggressive attempts to promote electric vehicles and transition away from fossil fuels. Given that some estimates suggest electric vehicles could make up the majority of U.S. passenger car sales by 2030, it’s difficult to gauge how much West Coast demand there will be for Willow’s oil over the coming decades.

Even if ConocoPhillips does find buyers on the West Coast and overseas, Willow’s overall impact on oil prices will likely be small. According to the Bureau’s model, Willow will lower global oil prices by about 20 cents a barrel for as long as it operated at peak capacity. As of late Wednesday, the Brent oil benchmark was trading at around $75 a barrel.

“It’s hard to say that this will make a dent in either prices or supply,” said Chanda Meek, a professor of political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The project’s economic impact within Alaska isn’t clear-cut, either, despite what the state’s politicians say.

Alaska is the third most oil-reliant state in the nation , behind Wyoming and North Dakota. According to the state’s own estimate, nearly 85 percent of the state budget comes from oil revenues. Taxes on oil have funded the construction of new buildings and hospitals, and oil prices affect how much funding public schools get . Alaskans, who don’t pay an income or sales tax, also get a check every year from a pot of money called the Permanent Fund Dividend, which is funded by oil royalties. (Each check topped more than $3,000 last year, the highest amount residents have ever received.)

But this picture is changing . In 1988, Alaska’s trans-Alaska pipeline, or TAPS, was pumping a tremendous amount of petroleum from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to Valdez on the state’s southern coast — approximately 2 million barrels a day . Now, however, depleted reserves within Alaska and the competing fracking boom in the Southwest’s Permian Basin have made the state’s oil less relevant — Alaska is currently pumping less than a quarter of the oil it was moving in the 1980s. Alaskan oil production hit a 40-year low in 2020 . 

That’s why the Alaska congressional delegation lobbied the Biden administration long and hard to approve the Willow project. 

“Willow is finally reapproved, and we can almost literally feel Alaska’s future brightening because of it,” Murkowski said after the Biden administration announced its decision. “We are now on the cusp of creating thousands of new jobs, generating billions of dollars in new revenues, improving quality of life on the North Slope and across our state, and adding vital energy to TAPS to fuel the nation and the world.”

Experts in Alaskan economic policy say those assertions don’t hold up under scrutiny, and the Willow project is unlikely to bring back the kind of economic security oil provided the state a few decades ago.

Some estimates say Alaska could see $6 billion in revenue from the Willow project, but that payout is years away. In the short term, the state may actually see a decrease in revenue . Because the project is on federal land, the state can only collect production taxes on the project and can’t collect royalties on the oil produced there . More importantly, ConocoPhillips can use a carve-out in the state’s tax law to write off its expenses for this project against the taxes the company pays on its other oil developments in the state. One analysis , conducted by the governor’s office in 2018, forecast that the state wouldn’t see a positive economic impact from the Willow project until 2026 and that the development would result in up to $1.6 billion in negative revenue through 2025 — a 6 percent decrease to the state’s overall revenue. An analysis from this year , conducted by Alaska’s Department of Revenue, says the project wouldn’t become “cash flow positive” for the state until 2035.   

While the state would see negative revenue from the project’s first years of operation, municipalities will admittedly see more immediate positive benefits. Production taxes from the project are earmarked as grant programs for local communities, especially in the North Slope borough. The Department of Revenue’s recent analysis shows the North Slope will get $1.3 billion through 2053, and the cash will start flowing in the coming months. Communities impacted by the project will get an additional $3.7 billion over the next three decades.

Of course, the communities closest to drilling face a complex and sobering set of tradeoffs. The Alaska Native Village of Nuiqsut is going to be virtually surrounded by oil fields as a result of the approval of Willow, which threatens the subsistence hunting and fishing that has long sustained the town’s households. Nuiqsut’s mayor has been vocally opposed to the Willow project, and local tribal leaders passed a resolution opposing it in 2019.

Zooming out, Wight said, the project signals to Alaskans, oil companies, and the rest of the world that the United States believes there will still be a market for Conoco’s oil three decades from now. At that time, however, the world’s governments should be completing a transition to clean energy. Indeed, President Biden recently signed a law that puts the nation on track to slash emissions 50 percent by 2030. How can that be the same world that needs 600 million new barrels of oil from Willow?

“We have the policy to build a renewable energy future,” Wight told Grist. “It’s much less clear how a managed decline of fossil fuels is going to happen.”

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Biden approves Willow oil project in Alaska despite campaign pledge

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Appeals court says work at Alaska’s Willow oil project can proceed as larger case plays out

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit  ruled  on Monday against opponents of the giant Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, refusing to immediately halt ongoing work as the court takes up the broader arguments in the case.

ConocoPhillips  has said  in previous court testimony that it plans $900 million in construction activity this winter as it lays the groundwork for the project, with 1,800 people expected to be employed.

Three circuit judges on the appeals court said in a three-page order that “the motions for injunctive relief pending appeal are denied without prejudice,” referring to efforts to immediately stop work at the project.

Their decision did not touch on the merits of the case, said Trustees for Alaska, which represents Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and environmental groups in one of the lawsuits brought against the project.

“It’s disappointing that the court has allowed ConocoPhillips to continue doing construction on the Willow project when there’s ongoing litigation charging the Biden administration with unlawfully approving the project in the first place,”said Bridget Psarianos, lead staff attorney with Trustees for Alaska.“This project was approved despite known harms to the community of Nuiqsut and despite the fact that it will produce huge amounts of greenhouse gases in a region already suffering existential climate impacts like the collapse of fish populations and community infrastructure. We will do everything we can to protect the western Arctic and stop Willow in the weeks and months to come.”

Rebecca Boys, a spokesperson with the oil company, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday that “ConocoPhillips is pleased the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction pending appeal.”

“ConocoPhillips is proceeding with Willow construction as we continue to review the court’s decision,” she said.

Willow, located in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska about 35 miles west of the village of Nuiqsut, could produce more than 600 million barrels of oil over three decades, an amount valued at close to $50 billion at today’s oil prices. Oil is expected to begin flowing in 2029.

The $8 billion project has drawn national opposition from many who are concerned it would create a “carbon bomb” that undermines President Joe Biden’s plans to address climate change while threatening wildlife such as polar bears.

Supporters of the project have touted its benefits to Alaska’s struggling economy and national security because it would reduce dependence on imported oil.

The decision was signed by  circuit judges  Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Jay S. Bybee, both of Las Vegas chambers, and Andrew D. Hurwitz of Phoenix chambers.

The court will expedite and consolidate the appeals brought by project opponents, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with other groups. The court said it would take opening briefs in the case by Dec. 29.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, an appointee of President Barack Obama,  ruled against  the groups earlier this year after the Biden administration  approved  the project in March. The groups had argued the decision violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws, and failed to consider alternatives that would further reduce impacts to subsistence users, prevent drilling in sensitive ecosystems or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Major construction activity on the North Slope occurs in winter when heavy materials can be hauled across the frozen ground. It often extends through April and ends as snow melts and tundra begins to thaw.

Boys said ConocoPhillips said has about 800 staff and contractors currently working to make the project a reality.

“We have a thorough execution plan, and we are well-advanced in detailed engineering,” she said.

She said activities that don’t disturb the ground surface are underway at Willow, located on the western edge of Alaska’s other North Slope oil fields.

That work includes staking and pre-packing routes to create ice roads that are designed to protect the tundra.

“Ice road construction is planned to commence in early December, depending on weather,” Boys said.

“Surface disturbing activities such as gravel mining and placement and pipeline construction will begin as early as December 21, depending on weather,” Boys said in the email. “Construction materials for the 2024 winter season are now being delivered to the Willow staging area in Kuparuk.”

This story has been republished with permission from the original at the Anchorage Daily News.

Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News

Related articles more from author, visa programs draw foreign teachers to alaska’s rural school districts, alaska supreme court confirms: ‘hoverboard dentist’ is banned from dentistry in alaska, alaska fisherman pleads guilty to federal charges after ordering crew to shoot whale.

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The Willow Project: Details, Impacts, and What You Can Do To Help

Photo by ConocoPhillips on CNN

An Explanation, Details, and Impacts

The Willow Project. The name might be familiar, as news about the Willow Project and its recent approval have been a prominent topic of discussion in the news lately; but what is actually happening and what are some effects that the project’s installation might have on the environment? It all dates back to 2016, when oil was discovered in the Willow prospect area of Alpine, Alaska. This location is home to the National Petroleum Reserve in the Plain of North Slope Alaska and is also home to a variety of Arctic wildlife and Native American communities. The Willow Project was initiated by the multinational corporation ConocoPhillips which proposed a massive oil and gas drilling project that will be the largest oil extraction put forward on federal lands to date. It is estimated that in the next 30 or so years, approximately 250 metric tons of CO 2 will be emitted into the atmosphere due to this plan.

Furthermore, if the Willow Project produces the expected amount of oil over a 30 year time period, it is estimated that the consumption of that oil would release the equivalent of 277 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The project could also produce up to 600 million barrels of oil, which would severely impact the Arctic wildlife and Native American communities in this region. For example, the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd is an imperative source of food for the Nuiqsut community which resides nearby. Many in the community have expressed concern on how the oil and gas extraction have led to sick fish, malnourished animals used for food (such as caribou), and an unhealthy, borderline toxic air quality.  

These adverse effects produce a strong risk of damage to the complex local tundra ecosystem and shockingly, the release of these greenhouse gasses could amount to the estimated total amount of annual emissions from half a million homes. These drawbacks have not gone unnoticed; on March 14, 2023, the EarthJustice organization filed a lawsuit on behalf of conservation groups to stop the Willow Project. Despite these efforts, the Willow Project has been approved and ConocoPhillips has begun to work their plan into action. 

 So, what is the ConocoPhillips corporation and what is its background? This corporation has a complicated history, including many controversial legal settlements. In May of 2019, ConocoPhillips settled a lawsuit with homeowners in northwestern Oklahoma City who accused the company of polluting their soil and water to such a degree that no vegetation would grow; and, in May of 2017, ConocoPhillips agreed to a $39 million settlement to resolve complaints brought forward by the State of New Jersey over groundwater contamination. Most famously, they were one of the 50 companies named in a 2007 lawsuit filed against manufactures, distributors, and other industrial users of the gasoline additive and proven carcinogen MTBE, found in groundwater at locations throughout New Jersey. 

Photo by CBS News on CBS

What Can We Do?

The Willow Project is undoubtedly controversial, and has drawn both environmental and political debate since news of the project’s potential approval broke earlier this year. Discussions regarding the harmful effects that the Willow Project could potentially have on the environment have proved to be a key argument against its approval. Although the Willow Project has since been approved, there are still several actions that we can take both in our own communities and nationwide in order to stop work on the project from taking place. 

Take legislative action. Writing a letter to your local government representative, state legislation officials, and even the White House is an important step that you can take to demonstrate climate activism and work toward stopping the Willow Project in its entirety. While one letter may not seem to amount to much, if many individuals contribute to this common cause, it would make an immense difference.

Spread awareness. Whether it be through a social media post or sharing knowledge with your peers, spreading awareness is vital in order for every individual to understand what the Willow Project is and the effects that it could have on the environment. The more people know about the Willow Project and the ecological consequences that will follow, the greater the chance that important legislation will be enacted to prevent the project from taking place in Alaska. Together, we can make a difference. 

Volunteer with environmental protection groups. Today, there are several environmental protection organizations working to inform and act on the Willow Project. EarthJustice ( https://earthjustice.org/ ), Protect Our Winters ( https://protectourwinters.org/ ), and Defenders of Wildlife ( https://defenders.org/ ) are just a few of the organizations that are working to collect information about the Willow Project and work to combat its installation. Contacting and volunteering with an environmental advocacy group, such as the three listed above, can help you to get involved with an important cause firsthand. 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_project#:~:text=The%20Willow%20project%20is%20an,total%20of%20250%20oil%20wells .
• https://protectourwinters.org/campaign/willow/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlumhBhClARIsABO6p-xbpv92zlGBsaXuYgtM2CSt6HHkCa8VfB8En92ki4cmTZ2qS9c2yfAaAkx8EALw_wcB
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConocoPhillips
• https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/03/16/willow-project-and-race-to-pump-last-barrel-of-oil-pub-89298#:~:text=If%20Willow%20produces%20as%20much,carbon%20dioxide%20into%20the%20atmosphere .
• https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/the-willow-project-and-its-impacts-on-indigenous-communities
• https://en.as.com/latest_news/what-can-you-do-to-stop-the-controversial-willow-project-n/
• https://www.nrdc.org/stories/why-willow-project-bad-idea  
• https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/7-ways-oil-and-gas-drilling-bad-environment

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