Construction can proceed related to a major oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope after a federal judge on Monday rejected requests to halt work...
JUNEAU, Alaska — Construction can proceed related to a major oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope after a federal judge on Monday rejected requests to halt work until challenges to the Biden administration’s recent approval are resolved.
The decision means ConocoPhillips Alaska can forge ahead with cold-weather construction work, including mining gravel and using it to extend a road toward the Willow project. One of the suits, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of numerous environmental groups, says the government analyzed an inadequate range of alternatives “based on the mistaken conclusion that it must allow ConocoPhillips COP to fully develop its leases.” It also says the environmental review underlying Willow’s approval didn’t assess the full climate consequences of authorizing the project because it didn’t analyze greenhouse gas emissions from other projects in the region that could follow.
The Biden administration in 2022 limited oil and gas leasing to just over half the reserve, which is home to polar bears, caribou, millions of migratory birds and other wildlife. There are multiple exploration and development projects within 50 miles of the Willow project, including other discoveries being pursued by ConocoPhillips Alaska, the largest oil producer in the state.
State political leaders, including Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation, and labor unions have touted Willow as a job creator, expected to send up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day through the trans-Alaska pipeline. That’s significant, because major existing fields are aging and the flow of oil through the pipeline is a fraction of what it was at its peak in the late 1980s.
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