A newly approved multi-billion-dollar oil production scheme in Alaska threatens the future of quality of life across the globe.
What is the Willow Project?
The Willow Project is an $8 billion project proposed and led by American exploration and production (E&P) giant ConocoPhillips, which will create a new oil E&P site on the northern tip (or the ‘North Slope’) of Alaska. This project was given final approval by the Biden administration as of the 13th of March 2023, after first being proposed to the Trump administration in early 2018. The approval comes as a highly contentious decision, following severe backlash both in real life and online.
The Willow Project is planned to be a 30-year-long project, which could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak and will become the biggest US oil field in decades. The drilling is set to take place in the oil-rich area bordering on the protected National Petroleum Reserve, which is otherwise-undisturbed Native land in northern Alaska, and will make use of 3 different drilling pads, a step down from the initially proposed 5. E&P giant ConocoPhillips already has active sites in 13 countries and suggests that the Willow Project will be its biggest project in the US to-date, with almost 200 oil wells, several new pipelines, a gravel mine and an airport all in the plans to be built just to support the project.
The project is predicted to create over 600 million barrels of oil during its lifetime, and will, if performing as predicted, single-handedly comprise 1.5% of the total oil produced by the US. The approval of the project comes after the International Energy Agency released a statement stressing the importance of preventing the creation of new oil and gas production plants, citing an earlier (2021) report which stated that the Earth would be unable to become carbon neutral by 2050 if new plants were created. Additionally, the approval still stands, even after the release of a UN report which detailed the high likelihood of the Earth to hit the Critical Warming Threshold by the early 2030s if nothing changes.
What Benefits and Challenges Does it Present?
Unsurprisingly, the project is supported by Alaskan lawmakers and politicians, who see the project as a means of infrastructural development in the remote north, and a huge opportunity to create jobs in the area. Lawmakers cite the project as a huge economic win for the state of Alaska, claiming the jobs created by the project are of huge benefit to the area, and that the project purports to boost the economy and reduce the US’ reliance on foreign oil sources – an especially relevant consideration in light of the Russia-Ukraine war. A group of Native Americans living in the North Slope area also back the project, supporting the idea that it will create better job prospects for Native Americans, as well as improve non-state-funded cash inflow in the area, and will allow Native Americans more control over the funds, which will then be invested in the area to improve infrastructure such as housing and education.
However, other Native American groups in the area call this outlook ‘naive’ and criticise the coalition for having a ‘short-term outlook’ which does not consider the lasting environmental impact the project will have. Citizens of the Native village of Nuiqsut, which is located just off one of the proposed drilling sites, criticise the coalition for failing to consider that any money created by the project will likely be handled by the state. As such, the state will also have large control over where the funds are directed and what investments are made. Locals are also deeply concerned about the immediate health and environmental impacts of the project, which are much more imminent problems than the carbon pollution created by the drilling. In addition to the locals being forced to bear the brunt of the health and environmental problems, they will also have to deal daily with the waste, dust and noise pollution created by the project – a significant detriment to their quality of life as well as property value in the area. Additionally, the creation of the drilling pads, oil wells and related infrastructure will also hugely disrupt the natural landscape of the North Slope, displacing an abundance of Arctic animals and irreversibly destroying their habitat and ecosystems. The alteration of habitat will consequently disturb migration patterns and the food web in the area, which could have a negative impact on Native agriculture, which focuses on natural hunting and farming methods and is very responsive to the state of the natural environment.
On a larger scale, the Willow Project will be one of the US’ largest polluters and is predicted to create around 9.2 million tonnes of ‘planet-warming’ carbon pollution per year, the equivalent of putting 2 million new gas-powered cars on the road each year. Over the 30-year duration of the project, it is predicted to create up to 278 million tonnes of carbon pollution, rightly earning it the nickname of ‘carbon bomb’. For comparison purposes, the ‘net equity greenhouse gas emissions’ from all other ConocoPhillips projects in 2021 was 18.3 million tonnes, meaning that the Willow Project would contribute over half of the total waste created per year by ConocoPhillips, by itself. Obviously, this is a serious problem, and the project is being rightfully criticised by scientists and climate experts, who predict that carbon pollution on that scale has the potential to alter weather patterns, create dangerously high, intense heat waves and give rise to more natural disasters. The carbon pollution from this one project, which serves to almost solely benefit the US, will have global impact, and will catalyse the effects of global warming for every citizen of the planet, not just US citizens, which is why the project is of global relevance and must be treated with urgency.
What Backlash is it Facing?
The Biden Administration’s decision to give the Willow Project the green light has come under severe backlash from millions, across both the US and the entire world. Unhappy citizens have made their disgruntlement with President Biden himself clear, stating that the decision to approve the project was a direct betrayal of his manifesto and promises to strive for a greener future – most significantly, the promise he made during the 2020 campaign period where he promised “no more drilling on federal lands, period.” Although upon inauguration Biden initially passed an order prohibiting the creation of new drilling sites for oil and gas, external pressure from corporations and lawmakers resulted in that order being overturned and plenty of leases being granted. In fact, despite Biden’s administration seemingly pushing a greener approach, they have granted more leases for new drilling plants in the first 25 months of governance than the Trump administration. The White House has seen over 5.6 million letters protesting the project in the past two months alone, as well as several in-person demonstrations and calls for action, showing that the American public is significantly distressed about the current situation.
The Willow Project also currently faces two lawsuits. The first is a joint effort by local associations such as Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Trustees for Alaska and the Alaska Wilderness League, and the Sierra Club. This lawsuit was filed on the claim that the US Interior Department has breached its own climate guidelines and promises by approving the project. The second lawsuit is brought by American climate group Earthjustice, on the behalf of other large-scale environmental groups including Greenpeace USA, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, on the grounds that the project was approved without addressing previously highlighted issues which were brought forth in a 2021 lawsuit, and that the Biden administration failed to fully consider less harmful and polluting alternatives. Both of these lawsuits have the potential to bring about injunctions against the project, and potentially even fully prevent it from going forth, which would be a huge win in ecological terms.
The project is also the subject of debate and controversy online, with various petitions calling for its prohibition on platforms such as Change.org gathering over 5 million signatures. Aside from petitioning, people across the globe are taking a stand against the project, taking to platforms such as TikTok, Twitter and Instagram with hashtags like #stopwillow and #stopwillowproject. These hashtags have seen unprecedented involvement, gaining over 520 million views on TikTok alone. There is international unity online to oppose the Willow Project, which is only gaining traction, as views and involvement climb daily.
What Next?
As the lawsuits progress, the project will also progress accordingly. The atmosphere surrounding the Willow Project is tense as ever, and international pressure and anti-Willow efforts are mounting steadily, suggesting the project may not have a particularly stable future. However, considering that the project was ultimately approved despite pre-existing backlash and fears, it is also possible that the lawsuits will amount to nothing, and the project will continue as planned. For now, there is little to do but get involved with protests, petitions, and awareness efforts, and to sit back and watch the chaos unfold.
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Sources
The Washington Post – https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/17/willow-project-alaska-oil-drilling-explained/
CNN – https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/14/politics/willow-project-oil-alaska-explained-climate/index.html
BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64943603
The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/14/biden-president-approved-alaska-willow-project
The Evening Standard – https://www.standard.co.uk/news/us-politics/willow-project-controversial-us-oil-explained-joe-biden-alaska-b1063956.html
Earthjustice – https://earthjustice.org/article/willow-project-federal-fossil-fuel-leasing
StopWillow – https://stopwillow.org/climate/
