The Biden administration will approve ConocoPhillips’ application to establish three drilling locations in Alaska, overruling environmentalists who had criticized the project, according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The Interior Department will reportedly release the decision next week, setting in motion Conoco’s plans to finally begin work on the project, known as Willow, since it first sought approval in 2018, according to Bloomberg. The $8 billion project is projected to produce roughly 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day, roughly 1.6% of the nation’s current oil production.
Approval to drill at three sites would match with the Bureau of Land Management’s “preferred alternative,” down from Conoco’s initial proposal of five, after the project’s initial approval in 2020 was overturned in federal court, and the government was ordered to perform a more thorough environmental review, Bloomberg reported. The project would give Conoco access to an estimated total of 600 million barrels of oil.
“This MUST not be the case [President Biden],” said the Sierra Club, a major climate advocacy organization, in a tweet. “The Willow project is a climate disaster waiting to happen that would devastate wildlife, lands, AK communities, and our climate. We need to speed our transition to clean energy, not double-down on oil and gas.”
Earlier Friday, former Vice President Al Gore criticized the project, speaking with the British newspaper The Guardian.
Approved – Sully
Scut Farkus