The giant Willow oil field project in Alaska is hanging in the balance as pressure mounts on the Biden administration for a final decision to approve or reject it, with the clock ticking on the North Slope's short winter construction season.
initial approval of the project by the Trump administration in 2020, after conservation groups argued that the government had underestimated the plan’s harm to wildlife, among other factors.oil fields in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The reserve, which is the largest block of federal land in the U.S., was established by President Warren Harding in 1923 as a source of oil for the U.S. Navy.
Wednesday that they’ve met twice with senior Biden administration officials in recent days to urge approval of the project. The meetings included John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser on clean energy innovation, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Sullivan said in an interview. The administration has committed to releasing a final environmental report for the project before February and a final decision before March, according to the delegation’s statement.Spokespeople with the Interior Department declined to comment on the current timeline for a decision.Sullivan said the timeline is “disappointing” and limits the development that could begin in the four-month construction season that begins in January.
“Even the news today was, in my view, somewhat disappointing, because you’re getting into the middle of the construction season,” Sullivan said Wednesday.Climate activists in early December protested at the Ellipse outside the White House, unfurling a bright-yellow banner that said: “Stop the Willow Oil Project.”
“Our recent climate wins, the clean energy advancements we’ve made, President Biden’s 2030 goals — they’re all for nothing if the administration approves this colossal drilling project,” said Magnolia Mead of This is Zero Hour. “Youth turned out to elect President Biden and Democrats because of their ambitious climate promises, and all eyes are on him to follow through.”
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