Climate & Indigenous Activists Decry Biden’s Approval of Willow Oil Drilling Project in Arctic

Utterly devastating, insane, and toxic action on the part of the Biden administration that imperils us all. This is nothing short of pure madness. I join all those who are devastated and completely outraged. ― Molly

The Biden administration has approved a massive oil and gas development in Alaska known as the Willow project, despite widespread opposition from environmental and conservation groups that argue Willow will amount to a carbon bomb. The administration also announced Sunday it will ban future oil and gas leasing for 3 million acres of federal waters in the Arctic Ocean and will limit drilling in a further 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s North Slope. For more, we speak with Siqiñiq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, who says Willow would undermine Biden’s larger climate goals. “This project would emit so much carbon, it would actually double the amount that Biden had promised he would reduce,” they say.

AMY GOODMAN: Multiple news organizations are reporting the Biden administration is preparing to formally approve a massive oil and gas development in northern Alaska known as the Willow project. Approval of the $8 billion ConocoPhillips development is expected to be announced today, greenlighting the drilling of some 600 million barrels of crude oil. Climate activists and many Indigenous groups had urged Biden to reject the project, warning it will create a carbon bomb.

In advance of approving the Willow project, the Biden administration also announced on Sunday steps to reduce oil drilling in other parts of the Arctic. This includes barring future oil and gas leasing for 3 million acres of federal waters in the Arctic Ocean and limiting drilling in a further 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s North Slope. Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity criticized the Biden plan, saying, quote, “Protecting one area of the Arctic so you can destroy another doesn’t make sense, and it won’t help the people and wildlife who will be upended by the Willow project,” they said.

Please go here for the full video and transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/3/13/alaska_willow_project