Biden administration set to approve controversial Willow Project
Photo courtesy of Kenneth John Gill/Wikimeida Commons
Oil pipeline within Alaska on July 25, 2018. President of the United States, Joe Biden, recently announced a oil and gas drilling project within Alaska this week called the Willow Project.
March 13, 2023
President Joe Biden announced that he is set to approve the Willow Project, an oil drilling project in Alaska.
The Willow Project is a $8 billion project that allows major oil and gas drilling and will produce about 180,000 barrels a day, or 1.5% of the United State’s oil.
ConocoPhillips is the company that proposed this plan and will be the one executing the project.
The project promises to create a new source of jobs and revenue for Alaska’s North Slope, but the risks of negative effects on climate change follow this decision.
In President Biden’s initial climate goal, written in “President Biden’s Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” he plans on reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by “50%-52% below 2005 levels in 2030.”
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However, greenhouse emissions are expected to rise drastically as an effect of the Willow Project.
Protect Our Winters, a nonprofit that focuses on legislative decisions on climate change, stated the Willow Project will produce more greenhouse gas emissions “than any other proposed project on America’s public lands.”
According to Ryan Lance, the CEO of ConocoPhillips, the project will enhance energy security in the U.S.
The announcement has had negative reactions on social media. The hashtag #StopWillow has 175.2 million views on TikTok, with other similar hashtags following close behind.
The announcement has not been made but is rumored to be officially confirmed sometime next week.
