In a surprising development, the Biden administration supported a proposed ConocoPhillips oil development in Alaska last Wednesday. Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski also gave her thumbs up to the project, reported the Politico.
Considering Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's objection to the project the year before when she was a member of Congress, the Interior Department has chose to protect the Trump administration's October 2020 ruling in court and permitted the Willow project at the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to continue, noted the BLM government.
The NPR-A region along Alaska's North slope, separate from the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, has already been producing oil for years. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued a moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, effectively stopping the Trump administration's intentions to approve oil exploration.
Willow project, which is comprised of five wells with a total capacity of 160,000 barrels of crude per day, will be one of Alaska's first large new oil projects in years. The Alaska oil drilling project that Bidens supported would be the first new gravel mine, airfield, over 570 miles of ice roads, and nearly 320 miles of pipeline.
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In a court filing in conjunction with the United States District Court of the District of Alaska, the Justice Department justified the Trump-era proposal to support the development versus environmental advocacy groups' allegations that the Interior failed to adequately evaluate the development's effects on the environment.
Meeting with Biden in the Oval Office last Monday, Alaska Republican Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski addressed the project. Sullivan said he left behind project details, and Biden agreed to reach him soon.
This Wednesday, Sullivan informed POLITICO of the development. According to the New York Times, "I openly talked with the president about the Willow project." "I informed him, 'This wasn't controversial until you guys put an end to it."
Murkowski said that her meeting with Biden administration officials has been very productive" ever since the meeting, a term she repeated three times for emphasis.
The Alaskan senator said she informed Biden about the plan and also that the Alaska lawmakers had briefed "almost everyone in your Cabinet and any senior adviser who is willing listen." Reuters confirmed this.
In a court filing on Wednesday, the administration said that some of those contesting the authorization were "cherry-picking the documents" of federal agencies involved in the decision-making process and that their "claim should be dismissed."
Government lawyers said that agencies evaluated Willow Project's impacts that included alternative proposed water crossings and other problems like infrastructure to deal with. Counsel for the government added that all the information was complete.
The administration's legal efforts are especially noteworthy. After all, Haaland co-signed a letter in May 2020 with four House Democratic colleagues demanding the Trump administration to "stop any further action" on the project because it might be bad for the environment.
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