Why is The Willow Project So Controversial
In this post, we look at the controversy surrounding the Willow Project in Alaska. Numerous petroleum disasters around the world over the past 100 years, many involving multinational corporations, have caused significant health, environmental, and economic damages.
U.S. President Joe Biden (@joebiden, Instagram) and (@JoeBiden, Twitter) recently approved the Willow Project on Alaska’s petroleum–rich North Slope, in a federal oil reserve roughly the size of Indiana. Supporters claim it is an economic lifeline for Indigenous communities in the region.
But environmental activists claim it is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. Environmental groups say it is counter to the Biden Administration’s climate goals. The announcement came the day after the administration said it would bar or limit drilling in some other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
The project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, about 1.5% of total U.S. oil production. The project is the largest proposed oil drilling on U.S. public land and the biggest oil field in Alaska in decades. On average, about 499,700 barrels of oil a day flow through the trans–Alaska pipeline, which is below the late–1980s peak of 2.1 million barrels.
ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc., a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips, had proposed five drilling sites as part of the project. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved three of the drill sites. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DoI) said the final approval reduces the project’s drill pads by 40%. The company also agreed to give up rights to about 68,000 acres, where Willow is located, in existing leases within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska.
This action reduces the project’s freshwater use and eliminates all infrastructure related to the two rejected drill sites. Including approximately 11 miles of roads, 20 miles of pipelines and 133 acres of gravel, all of which, according to DoI reduces impacts to caribou migration.
The combined emissions from the 2 million passenger cars fueled by the oil from this project will produce more than 278 million tons (239 million metric tonnes) of greenhouse gases over the project’s 30–year life.
In Support
Support for the project in Alaska is mainly political, including Congress, Governor Mike Dunleavy (R), state lawmakers and even the local Alaska Native Village Corporation. Nagruk Harcharek, president of the group “Voice of the Arctic Inupiat”, says there is also support in the North Slope region.
Supporters claim the project would benefit communities in tax revenue generated, which could be used to invest in infrastructure and provide public services. U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (D), who is Yupik, thinks that the project would create well–paying union jobs.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R–Alaska), is in support for the project claiming that it will mean jobs and revenue for Alaska, resources needed for the country and for friends and allies, as well as energy and national security.
In Opposition
The city of Nuiqsut is closest to the proposed development. Its Mayor, Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, has been a vocal opponent who is worried about impacts on caribou and the city’s residents’ way of life. She feels voices like hers are being drowned out.
Non–profit Earthjustice is among the environmental groups that have opposed the project. The #StopWillow campaign that ran on social media through 2022 was promoted by environmental activists.
The Controversy over Willow
Shortly after taking office, President Biden suspended oil and gas lease sales and promised to overhaul the U.S.’s fossil fuels program. Attorneys general from oil–producing states convinced a federal judge to lift this suspension––a ruling later overturned by an appeals court.
Ultimately, the administration gave in to new leases in a compromise. The measure requires the DoI to offer for sale tens of millions of acres of onshore and offshore leases before it can approve any renewable energy leases.
The number of new drilling permits to companies with federal leases spiked during 2021 as companies stockpiled drilling rights. Officials claimed they were working through a backlog of applications from the Trump administration. Approvals dropped sharply in fiscal year 2022.
In 2021, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) made a case against Willow based on an environmental review conducted during the previous administration. But a federal judge later found flaws with the review.
The Trump administration had claimed that increased domestic oil drilling would result in fewer net global emissions because it would decrease petroleum imports, arguing that U.S. companies adhere to stricter environmental standards than those in other countries.
Third party scientists supported by a federal judge rejected this claim making the DoI change how it calculates emissions. Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute said that instead of locking ourselves into emissions for the next 30 years, we should be on a reduction schedule.
Oil & Gas Lawmakers vs. Environmental Protection Groups
The approval of this new oil drilling project pits local lawmakers against environmental groups and Democrats in Congress who say the project goes against COP27 and the Paris Agreement goals to cut carbon (CO2) emissions in half by 2030 and move towards clean energy.
It also goes against President Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to end new oil and gas drilling on federal lands. In a landmark law to expand into clean energy such as wind and solar power and move the U.S. away from oil, coal and gas. Reforestation on federal lands was planned by the Biden administration in order to meet its broader climate goals.
President Biden backtracked on his climate pledge after attacks from Republican lawmakers, who blamed him for gas price spikes that occurred after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Republican lawmakers and government officials rejected the Biden administration’s review over its inclusion of the suggestion that Willow’s net emissions could be offset by 50% by planting more trees on national forests to capture CO2. The reforestation proposal was eventually dropped from the final decision.
The Biden Administration’s Climate Action
The day before the Willow project was approved, Biden announced he will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Arctic Ocean and impose new protections in the petroleum reserve. To protect more than 13 million acres within the petroleum reserve, a 23–million–acre chunk of land on Alaska’s North Slope set aside a century ago for future oil production.
Areas to be protected include the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay Special Areas, collectively known for their globally significant habitat for grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.
The withdrawal of the offshore area ensures that important habitat for whales, seals, polar bears and other wildlife will be protected in perpetuity from extractive development. The action completes protections for the entire Beaufort Sea Planning Area, building upon President Barack Obama’s 2016 withdrawal of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area and the majority of the Beaufort Sea.
Take Away
This last oil drilling project has actually not created any ecological disasters…yet. The world (and the U.S.) have known for quite some time (100+ years) that the drilling for, processing of, and burning of fossil fuels is toxifying all the air and water on the planet. As well as destroying entire ecosystems, harming every living organism on the planet, including humans.
For a history of disasters relating to petroleum and other fossil fuels, read our post on the 9 of the Worst Oil Spills in History. For details on other environmental disasters caused by negligence, criminal behavior, or just plain greed, read our post Ecological Disasters Through 1912–2020.
We know what the issues over energy are. We also know what the solutions for cleaner, more sustainable energy sources are. COP27 took place only a few months ago, and the U.S. rejoined the Paris Agreement with the start of the Biden Administration.
So, all things considered, is it prudent to approve this most recent oil drilling project, which is problematic at best, and fraught with possible disasters at worst? There are no easy answers, of course, but there must at least be a discussion of pros and cons before (as a nation) we embark on another long–term petroleum investment. What do you think? We’d love to hear your opinion. Please feel free to comment below.
Sources:
What is the Willow project in Alaska? Controversial oil drilling plan explained
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/willow-project-alaska-oil-drilling-plan-biden-approved-explained/
MARCH 13, 2023 / 3:50 PM / CBS/AP