Environmentalists outraged as Biden admin backs Trump drilling project
The administration of US President Joe Biden is backing a proposed Donald Trump-era oil and gas project in the state of Alaska, offending environmentalists who have lobbied to stop the development.
Late last year a coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups filed a lawsuit against the project after the Trump administration approved it in October. The lawsuit argued that federal agencies failed to properly evaluate the project's environmental impacts.
The coalition argues the ConocoPhillips development project will threaten wildlife and the Nuiqsut community in Alaska’s North Slope, and will produce more climate-warming greenhouse gases.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief on Wednesday claiming that the Bureau of Land Management and US Fish and Wildlife Service adequately followed environmental laws before approving the project and said it should be allowed to move forward, according to The Hill newspaper.
Environmental groups denounced the decision, saying it is contradictory to Biden’s promises on climate change and drilling.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to see the Biden administration defending this environmentally disastrous project,” Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement Thursday which was published by The Hill on Friday.
“We hope it’s not the administration’s final word on Willow. President Biden promised climate action, and our climate can’t afford more huge new oil-drilling projects,” Monsell said.
The Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement that burning the expected 590 million barrels of oil extracted from the oil wells over the project’s 30-year lifespan would result in approximately 280 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Willow project, located on federal land in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, could produce up to 160,000 barrels per day as soon as 2024, according to ConocoPhillips’ previous estimates.
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