With just days to go until the Biden administration is set to a release a decision on the first major oil drilling project of its tenure, the White House has indicated it may reduce the scope of the controversial project that has drawn fierce criticism from climate advocates.
The Willow Project, proposed by ConocoPhillips, is a massive and decadeslong oil drilling venture on Alaska’s North Slope that the state’s lawmakers say will create jobs and boost domestic energy production.
But environmental groups have remained staunchly opposed to it, fearing the effect of the planet-warming carbon pollution from the hundreds of millions of barrels of oil it would produce. Young voters have rallied on social media against the proposal with the hashtag #StopWillow in posts that have amassed tens of millions of views. A petition to “stop the willow project” on Change.org has more than 85,000 signatures and continues to grow.
They say the approval of Willow will deal a significant blow to President Joe Biden’s climate credibility after he pledged in his campaign to end new oil drilling on federal land.
By the administration’s own estimates, the project would generate enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon pollution a year – equivalent to adding 2 million gas-powered cars to the roads. Over the course of 30 years, it would release around 278 million metric tons of carbon pollution, which climate groups say is what more than 70 coal-fired power plants could produce every year.
In a move to assuage the criticism, the Biden administration is looking at reducing the number of approved drilling pads from three to two and offering to boost nature conservation measures elsewhere in the state, according to two sources familiar with the details of the plan.
White House officials are considering cutting the most…
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