United States President Joe Biden is set to limit Arctic waters as Project Willow faces criticism over its potential climate and environmental impacts.
The situation comes as the Democratic president's administration is set to formally approve the massive oil drilling project in Alaska on Monday. Biden is also set to impose sweeping restrictions on offshore oil leasing in the Arctic Ocean and across Alaska's North Slope.
Project Willow Update
It is part of his apparent effort to temper criticism over the project's approval and to form a "firewall" to limit future oil leases in the region. Furthermore, the Interior Department is also expected to release new rules to protect more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska from oil and gas leasing.
However, the restrictions are not expected to offset the widespread concerns that the massive $8 billion project Willow, which oil giant ConocoPhillips leads, will have in producing more than 600 million barrels of crude in the next three decades, as per the New York Times.
While burning that massive amount of oil, officials could release roughly 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the Earth's atmosphere. On a yearly basis, this emission would translate into 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution, which is equal to adding almost two million cars to the roads every year.
The United States, the biggest polluter on the planet following China, is currently recorded to be emitting roughly 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. Biden has also been fiercely lobbied by the oil industry and Alaska lawmakers trying to approve the project, Willow.
Several other supporters of the proposal, including labor unions, building trades, and some North Slope residents, have argued that project Willow would generate roughly 2,500 jobs and as much as $17 billion in revenue for the federal government.
Fight Against Climate Change
For several weeks, White House officials have been mulling project Willow, and deliberations have focused on the legal constraints resulting from the fact that Conoco has, for decades, held some leases. According to Politico, it also has particular valid and existing rights granted by the prior administration, which limits the Biden Administration's options on the matter.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the largest oil and gas companies, has come out against the Biden administration's plans. It argued that they sent mixed signals after the president and his cabinet officials asked the industry to pump more oil to keep fuel prices down nationwide.
API's senior vice president of policy, Frank Macchiarola, said that the Biden administration should be focused on strengthening U.S. energy security and supporting working families in Alaska by standing with responsible development of federal lands and waters instead of restricting it.
The Interior Department said that with the recent actions and decisions, the Biden administration continues to deliver on the most aggressive climate agenda in the history of the United States. The department added that the president has made the nation a magnet for clean energy manufacturing and jobs and has secured record investments in climate resilience and environmental justice, said Fox News.
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