Biden administration approves major ConocoPhillips project in Alaska

The Biden administration is approving the major Willow oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope, one of President Joe Biden’s most consequential climate choices that is drawing condemnation from environmentalists who say it flies in the face of the Democratic president’s pledges, Report informs referring to the AP.

The announcement comes a day after the administration, in a big move toward conservation, said it would bar or limit drilling in some other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

Biden’s Willow plan would allow three drill sites initially, which project developer ConocoPhillips has said would include about 219 total wells. A fourth drill site proposed for the project would be denied. The company has said it considers the three-site option workable.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips will relinquish rights to about 68,000 acres of existing leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Climate activists have been outraged that Biden appeared open to greenlighting the project, which they said put Biden’s climate legacy at risk. Allowing oil company ConocoPhillips to move forward with the drilling plan also would break Biden’s campaign promise to stop new oil drilling on public lands, they say.