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Willow Project Hurts Indigenous Communities

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Willow Project Hurts Indigenous Communities

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What is the Willow Project?

Just yesterday, the Biden administration approved The Willow Project, an $8 billion drilling project near the Indigenous village of Utqiagvik, Alaska, as part of oil company ConocoPhillips. The plan received final approval from the Trump administration, but was halted in 2021 by a federal judge in Alaska, who argued that the environmental impacts were not fully addressed. The Biden Administration has now officially signed off on approval for the Willow Project, drawing backlash from youth, environmental, and Indigenous advocates, who argue that this project will have detrimental impacts, ranging from speeding up the climate breakdown and impacting nearby animals and wildlife to causing food shortages in nearby Indigenous communities.

This project is the largest oil drilling project in the US to date, producing an estimated 576 million barrels of oil over 30 years, with around 180,000 barrels of crude per day.

What are the environmental impacts of the Willow Project?

"This extraction, which ConocoPhillips has said may, ironically, involve refreezing the rapidly thawing Arctic permafrost to stabilize drilling equipment, would create one of the largest "carbon bombs" on US soil, potentially producing more than twice as many emissions than all renewable energy projects on public lands by 2030 would cut combined." (The Guardian)

According to CNN, this project could produce enough oil to release around 9.2 million metric tons of carbon into the air, which is roughly equivalent to adding 2 million gas cars to the roads. Overall, this project is expected to create about 260 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of creating around 70 new coal-fired power plants.

In 2020, Biden vowed to end new oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters during his presidential campaign. As a result, many are calling Biden out, saying that this project undermines his climate agenda and campaign promise.

"Approving the Willow Project is an unacceptable departure from President Biden's promises to the American people on climate and environmental justice. "After all that this administration has done to advance climate action and environmental justice, it is heartbreaking to see a decision that we know will poison Arctic communities and lock in decades of climate pollution we simply cannot afford." -Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action.

Impacts on Indigenous communities:

The mayor of the town of Nuiqsuit, Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, whose community is closest to the Willow Project has expressed concern over the impacts of this development on caribou and community member's lifestyles.

"As oil is exported and sent around the globe, our communities in the Arctic are left to contend with the health impacts of pollution as well as the devastation that comes from dramatic changes to the land like sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, and coastal erosion." (Native Movement)

According to the Native Movement, a grassroots Indigenous Alaska-Based organization, developers of the Willow Project have done minimal research on the impacts of this project on the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, which are a vital food source for many residents of the nearby Nuiqsut community. Members of the community have spoken out in the past about how direct impacts of oil and gas extraction on their communities have caused sick fish, malnourished caribou, and toxic air quality. They also expressed concern over a lack of adequate consultation beforehand, the significant impact on the health of community members, and the detrimental loss of access to food resources. "The detrimental amounts of pollutants and contaminants caused by drilling and extraction projects is happening, literally, in the back yards of Iñupiaq peoples and without their full and informed consent." -The Native Movement

Some excerpts from Charlie Sollie Hugo's open letter to the Biden Administration read:

Our communities have traded with, and supported, one another since time immemorial. Our people, the Nunamiut people, have depended on the Caribou and the places they roam, from here to Nuiqsut and beyond, for thousands of years and to this The Barren Ground Caribou are of immense importance to our people, to our survival, and to the preservation of our culture and tradition. Caribou have been the primary diet of our people since time immemorial. We have been hunting and using Caribou for thousands of years to feed and clothe our people and to make tools and sinew to build and maintain our equipment and our clothing. Caribou are vital to our culture, to our livelihood, and to our physical and spiritual wellbeing.

We are deeply concerned that impacts to Caribou from the Willow project could reduce the Caribou that are available for our hunters near our community, and in our traditional hunting and trading grounds, which includes the areas affected by the Willow project. We think the Willow project and the projects that could be built from Willow could continue to harm Caribou, to deflect them, and to contribute to the decreasing number of Caribou available for our people.

Some Alaska Native tribal organizations have expressed support, including the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and the Alaska Federation of Natives. The deal will make it "possible for our community to continue our traditions, while strengthening the economic foundation of our region for decades to come," according to Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat group. However, many local environmental and Indigenous groups, including the community of Nuiqsut that is the closest to this project argue that any jobs and money the project brings in the short term will be negated by the environmental devastation in the long run.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/7592001/what-is-willow-project/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/13/alaska-willow-project-approved-oil-gas-biden https://www.nativemovement.org/willow-project https://ndncollective.org/willow-project-threatens-traditional-caribou-hunting-naqsragmiut-tribal-president-writes-letter-to-the-doi-requesting-consultation/

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The Willow Project and its impacts on Indigenous communities - The Indigenous Foundation

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What is the Willow Project? Just yesterday, the Biden administration approved The Willow Project, an $8 billion drilling project near the Indigenous village of Utqiagvik, Alaska, as part of oil company ConocoPhillips. The plan received final approval from the Trump administration, but was halted i

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Biden administration is approving a major oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope that supporters say represents an economic lifeline for Indigenous communities in the region but environmentalists say is counter to President Joe Biden's climate goals.

The decision on ConocoPhillips Alaska's Willow project, in a federal oil reserve roughly the size of Indiana, was revealed Monday.

WHAT IS THE WILLOW PROJECT?

The project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the company - about 1.5% of total U.S. oil production. Willow is currently the largest proposed oil project on U.S. public land. Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the development could be "one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state's history."

So far this year, around 498,000 barrels of oil a day have flowed through the trans-Alaska pipeline, well below the late-1980s peak of 2.1 million barrels.

ConocoPhillips Alaska had proposed five drilling sites as part of the project. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved three, which it said would include up to 199 total wells. ConocoPhillips Alaska said it welcomed Monday's decision.

The company also agreed to give up rights to about 68,000 acres (27,500 hectares) in existing leases within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where Willow is located. The action reduces the project's freshwater use and eliminates all infrastructure related to the two rejected drill sites, including approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) of roads, 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipelines and 133 acres (54 hectares) of gravel, all of which reduces potential impacts to caribou migration and subsistence users, the U.S. Interior Department said.

Using the oil from Willow would produce the equivalent of more 263 million tons (239 million metric tons) of greenhouse gases over the project's 30-year life, roughly equal to the combined emissions from 1.7 million passenger cars over the same time period. It would have a roughly 8% reduction in emissions compared with Houston-based ConocoPhillips' favored approach.

IS THERE SUPPORT FOR WILLOW?

There is widespread political support in Alaska, including from the bipartisan congressional delegation, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and state lawmakers.

There also is "majority consensus" in support in the North Slope region, said Nagruk Harcharek, president of the group Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, whose members include leaders from across much of that region. Supporters have called the project balanced and say communities would benefit from taxes generated by Willow to invest in infrastructure and provide public services.

City of Nuiqsut Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, whose community of about 525 people is closest to the proposed development, is a prominent opponent who is worried about impacts on caribou and her residents' subsistence lifestyles. But opposition there isn't universal. The local Alaska Native village corporation has expressed support.

"Today, the people of Alaska were heard," said U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat who also is Yup'ik. "After years of consistent, determined advocacy for this project, from people all across the state and from every walk of life, the Willow Project is finally moving forward."

Ahtuangaruak had said that she felt that voices like hers were being drowned out.

WHAT ARE THE POLITICS OF THE DECISION?

Biden's decision pits Alaska lawmakers against environmental groups and many Democrats in Congress who say the project is out of step with his goals to slash planet-warming carbon emissions in half by 2030 and move to clean energy. Environmentalists say approval of the project represents a betrayal by Biden, who promised during the 2020 campaign to end new oil and gas drilling on federal lands. Environmentalist groups had urged the project's rejection.

Biden has made fighting climate change a top priority and backed a landmark law to accelerate expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power and move the U.S. away from the oil, coal and gas.

He has faced attacks from Republican lawmakers who blame him for gasoline price spikes that occurred after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

DID THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT WILLOW EARLY ON?

Justice Department attorneys in 2021 defended in court an environmental review conducted during the Trump administration that approved the project. A federal judge later found flaws with the analysis, setting aside the approval and returning the matter to the land management agency for further work. That led to the review released last month that laid the groundwork for Monday's announcement.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said the decision will not only "mean jobs and revenue for Alaska, it will be resources that are needed for the country and for our friends and allies. The administration listened to Alaska voices. They listened to the delegation as we pressed the case for energy security and national security."

WHAT ABOUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS?

Federal officials under former President Donald Trump claimed increased domestic oil drilling would result in fewer net global emissions because it would decrease petroleum imports. U.S. companies adhere to stricter environmental standards than those in other countries, they argued.

After outside scientists rejected the claim and a federal judge agreed, the Interior Department changed how it calculates emissions.

The latest review, under the Biden administration, received pushback over its inclusion of a suggestion that 50% of Willow's net emissions could be offset, including by planting more trees on national forests to capture and store carbon dioxide. Reforestation work on federal lands was something the administration already planned and needed to meet its broader climate goals. The reforestation proposal was dropped from the final decision.

The Willow project "is about producing oil for decades when the U.S. needs to be on a steep reduction path," said Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute. "I see the political pressure the administration is under, but the science doesn't change."

WHAT ABOUT BIDEN'S PROMISES TO CURTAIL OIL DRILLING?

Biden suspended oil and gas lease sales after taking office and promised to overhaul the government's fossil fuels program.

Attorneys general from oil-producing states convinced a federal judge to lift the suspension -- a ruling later overturned by an appeals court. The administration ultimately dropped its resistance to leasing in a compromise over last year's climate law. The measure requires the Interior Department 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 in Biden's first year as companies stockpiled drilling rights and officials said they were working through a backlog of applications from the Trump administration. Approvals dropped sharply in fiscal year 2022.

The Biden administration has offered less acreage for lease than previous administrations. But environmentalists say the administration hasn't done enough.

The decision on Willow, one of the most significant of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's tenure, was signed by her deputy, Tommy Beaudreau, who grew up in Alaska and briefed state lawmakers on the project Monday.

Haaland referred to the project in a video statement on Twitter as a "difficult and complex issue" involving leases issued by prior administrations.

"As a result, we had limited decision space, but we focused on how to reduce the project's footprint and minimize its impacts to people and to wildlife," said Haaland, who had opposed Willow as a New Mexico congresswoman before becoming Interior secretary.

WHAT OTHER ACTIONS IS THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TAKING?

On Sunday, the administration announced that Biden would indefinitely place off limits to future oil and gas leasing nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of the Arctic Ocean and impose new protections in the petroleum reserve. 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 White House said in a statement.

The action completes protections for the entire Beaufort Sea Planning Area, building upon former President Barack Obama's 2016 withdrawal of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area and the majority of the Beaufort Sea, the White House said.

The Biden administration also said it plans to consider additional protections for the more than 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) within the petroleum reserve that are designated as special areas for their wildlife, subsistence, scenic or other values. Details weren't immediately clear. The administration said it would make available the proposed rule for public comment in the coming months.

The Interior Department limited oil and gas leasing in a 2022 decision to 11.8 million of the roughly 23-million-acre (4.8 million of the roughly 9.3-million-hectare) National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and designated the remaining roughly 11 million acres (4.5 million hectares) as closed to leasing.

The petroleum reserve on Alaska's North Slope was set aside a century ago for future oil production.

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Brown reported from Billings, Mont., and Daly reported from Washington.

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Alaska's Willow oil project is controversial. Here's why.

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Supporters say a major oil project President Joe Biden is OK'ing on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope represents an economic lifeline for Indigenous communities while environmentalists say it runs counter to his climate goals.

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Earth Justice: The Willow Project Spells Disaster for Environment 

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Earth Justice: The Willow Project Spells Disaster for Environment 

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Last week, the Biden administration lit the fuse on a carbon bomb.

The administration gave the go-ahead to ConocoPhillips' Willow project in Alaska's Western Arctic, a massive, decades-long oil drilling endeavor. Approval came in the form of a hefty agency document known as a Record of Decision, landing with a thud that reverberated across the Internet to the more than 5 million people who signed online petitions urging President Biden to stick to his climate promises and halt Willow. Earthjustice is now suing to stop the project.

ConocoPhillips - whose full-year earnings for 2022 rose to $18.7 billion - was able to secure initial approval for three oil-drilling sites. All told the project is estimated to produce 260 million metric tons of heat-trapping gases over 30 years.

Meanwhile, the world's top scientists just published a " survival guide for humanity " that says we must cut global emissions in half by 2030 to avoid the worst possible harms of the climate crisis. Building new oil and gas infrastructure like Willow will make it impossible to reach that goal.

Willow is just one of many dirty fossil fuel projects the federal government - including the Biden administration - has approved on public lands and waters it ostensibly stewards for all Americans. Nearly 25% of U.S. carbon emissions since 2005 have come from oil, gas, and coal extracted from public lands and waters leased to the fossil fuel industry. This means the Biden administration could cut our carbon footprint by a quarter with a single action: end fossil fuel drilling on public lands.

Willow is only the beginning of ConocoPhillips' sprawling plans for Alaska's Western Arctic, an open swath of tundra where polar bears, caribou, and musk oxen roam. The oil company imagines this vast public-lands area as the "next great Alaska hub" for oil development and has told investors that it's identified a staggering amount of oil, possibly amounting to 3 billion barrels, that could be accessed only if the Willow infrastructure were in place.

Meanwhile, a massive oil-and-gas lease sale - one of the largest in U.S. history - is scheduled for the Gulf of Mexico on March 28. The petroleum located beneath the seafloor in the leasing area for Lease Sale 259 could produce more than 1 billion barrels of oil, and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Here again is a staggering carbon bomb in the making, just beginning to work its way through the federal approval process. Earthjustice has also brought a legal challenge against Gulf Lease Sale 259.

Solving the climate crisis cannot be accomplished with clean-energy technology alone; keeping oil and gas reserves in the ground must be a part of the solution too. When it comes to fossil fuel extraction on public lands, the U.S. remains pointed in the wrong direction.

The U.S. ranks as the second-largest emitter of climate pollution on the planet. Yet the government's Willow decision is a worrisome harbinger of what could be to come, as new fossil-fuel projects are on track to win approval just as they always have - even from agencies operating under a president who has repeatedly promised bold climate action and a transition to clean energy. Clearly, this is a broken system in need of repair.

What should those repairs look like? Earthjustice has a vision.

The way things work now, agency decisions green-lighting drilling projects on public lands essentially occur in a vacuum, divorced from U.S. commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. An improved system would bake these federal climate commitments into the decision-making process. In practice, this could mean that no new lease sales could happen or oil-and-gas permits could be issued unless the proposals squared with U.S. climate goals. Tying fossil-fuel decisions to such a "climate screen" would help avoid development of carbon bombs.

This new approach could also mean making a large area of public lands unavailable for leasing to begin with. As things stand, a full 90% of lands under the purview of the Bureau of Land Management are open for leasing by the oil and gas industry. Our public lands are special and unique places that function as critical wildlife habitat, essential grounds for Indigenous hunting and fishing, refuges for people who love the outdoors, and sources for clean, fresh drinking water. Rather than being sacrificed to boost oil industry profits, these special places can and should be a part of the climate solution.

It's time to ensure that no more projects on the scale of Willow ever receive a green-light from the agencies that manage our federal lands.

Sticking with the status quo means leaving the floodgates open to more projects like Willow. If no action is taken, it is inevitable that extraction projects will proliferate across our nation's great open spaces, undercutting the climate progress made through investments in clean energy and infrastructure. Failing to fix this broken system would be a missed opportunity that would only pass the burden onto future generations.

A new approach that links our climate goals with decision-making about whether oil companies may operate on federal lands is the logical next step to address the climate crisis, and represents a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate global leadership. President Biden has the authority to directly ramp down climate pollution from this sector and could take a significant bite out of global carbon emissions with a single rulemaking.

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The Willow Project Has Been Approved. Now What?

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The system that greenlights oil-drilling on public lands is broken. Here's how to fix it and avoid more carbon bombs.

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Environmental Activists Protest Against Willow Project

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Environmental Activists Protest Against Willow Project

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photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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Daly, M., Brown, M., & Bohrer, B. (2023, March 15). Alaska’s Willow Oil Project is controversial. here’s why. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/alaska-oil-drilling-biden-environment-climate-c39147c8ae1797aab9cb27219bf92675

Perry, R. (2023, March 20). Biden approves Alaska’s willow drilling operation, but that’s only a small step to stop next energy crisis. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/biden-approves-alaskas-willow-drilling-operation-thats-small-step-stop-energy-crisis

Kuo, G. (2023, August 25). When fossil fuels run out, what then?. MAHB. https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/fossil-fuels-run/

Bowe, R. (2023b, May 16). The willow project has been approved. now what?. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/article/willow-project-federal-fossil-fuel-leasing

Turrentine, J. (2023, March 30). Why the willow project is a bad idea. Natural Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/why-willow-project-bad-idea#:~:text=Some%20conservationists%20estimate%20the%20project,of%20such%20disturbances%20for%20birds.

Baswan, M. (2023, March 15). The willow project and its impacts on indigenous communities. The Indigenous Foundation. https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/the-willow-project-and-its-impacts-on-indigenous-communities

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Fox News: Willow Project is Only the Beginning

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Fox News: Willow Project is Only the Beginning

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This week, the Biden administration issued a long overdue approval of the Willow Project in Alaska's North Slope, an oil production site within the National Petroleum Reserve. While the announcement signals the administration is waking up to the reality that fossil fuels are critical to our nation's energy security, there is still more the administration must do - and quickly.

It has been more than two years since energy prices began skyrocketing and inflation crippled the economic outlook of millions of Americans. During this time, the Biden administration tried to downplay the importance of oil supplies in restoring economic stability. Instead, President Joe Biden preferred to fan the flames of insecurity, spending trillions of dollars on increasing America's dependence on intermittent renewable energy sourced from China and draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political price-fixing purposes.

All the while, the administration has been deaf to the efforts of a broad and bipartisan coalition of state and local officials, labor organizations like the AFL-CIO, industry and the American people. They all recognize that if America does not step up to fill the void left by Russian President Vladimir Putin's belligerence in Ukraine, then Iran, Venezuela, OPEC, or any other nation will gladly take our place at the table of energy superpowers.
BIDEN ADMIN'S WAR ON HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES WILL CAUSE HIGHER PRICES, DIRTIER CLOTHES AND DISHES, EXPERTS WARN
Alaska's Willow Project has been years in the making, and it is representative of the hindered potential of the thousands of outstanding or rejected leases under an administration at war with fossil fuels. The project has the potential to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day and generate between $8 billion and $17 billion in new tax revenue, much of which will dampen the blow of rampant federal spending, and create 2,800 jobs, 300 of which will be permanent.

The federal government created the National Petroleum Reserve for precisely this moment, and it's high time the administration got on board. Sadly, Biden seems only to be doing the bare minimum. Biden's approval of only three out of five leases in the North Slope demonstrates this, but that's not all.

Just as soon as his administration reluctantly gave a partial green light to the Willow Project, Biden turned around and indefinitely removed 16 million acres of Alaskan territory from ever being developed in the future. For a state that relies on its energy resources, this places the economic future of Alaska and our nation at risk.
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Alaska is not alone in being the victim of an administration so detached from the reality facing millions of Americans. In 2021, the Biden administration halted all onshore oil and gas leasing - a move that sent shockwaves through a vital industry already reeling from the impact of COVID-19.

The Biden administration is full of inconsistencies. First, the president canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One, then boldly asserted at the State of the Union we will only need fossil fuels for "at least another 10 years," and now his administration approves a project that will become fully operational at the twilight of Biden's 10-year countdown for oil.

The project has the potential to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day and generate between $8 billion and $17 billion in new tax revenue, much of which will dampen the blow of rampant federal spending, and create 2,800 jobs, 300 of which will be permanent.

Beyond the political roller coaster that is the Biden administration, the past two years have offered many harsh lessons, but few stand out more than the importance of abundant, affordable, and reliable energy for a growing world. When we ignore this lesson, Americans pay the price, our allies pay the price, and our adversaries reap the benefits.

If the Biden administration truly stands by the words "Made in America," this must include American energy of all kinds. Most importantly, this must include long overdue permitting reform. This was a promise the Trump administration took to heart, and we made bold policy moves, including approving the Willow Project in 2020, to not only protect our national and economic security but extend that protection to the world by unleashing American energy abundance.

The United States can still be a global energy leader, we just need the federal government to grant Americans the freedom to realize our full potential and preempt the next global energy crisis. That can start by approving more oil and natural gas leases and approving new pipelines to feed an American and global economy in crisis.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RICK PERRY

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Biden approves Alaska's Willow drilling operation, but that's only a small step to stop next energy crisis

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Biden approves Alaska's Willow drilling operation, but that's only a small step to stop next energy crisis president has contributed to with other decisions.

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Fossil Fuels Will be Depleted in Our Lifetime

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Fossil Fuels Will be Depleted in Our Lifetime

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When Fossil Fuels Run Out, What Then? - MAHB

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Obviously we continue 'business as usual' and are not concerned about using up our resources!