Alaska’s Willow oil: ‘Carbon bomb’ or economic opportunity?

The Biden administration is approving the controversial major Willow oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The decision being announced Monday is one of President Joe Biden’s most consequential climate choices and is likely to draw condemnation from environmentalists who say it flies in the face of the Democratic president’s pledges.

Mr. Biden’s plan would allow three drill sites initially, the sources said, which project developer ConocoPhillips has said would include about 219 total wells. The company has said it considers that option workable. ConocoPhillips will relinquish rights to about 68,000 acres of existing leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, two of the sources said.

The sources have direct knowledge of the administration’s plan but did not want to be identified before an official announcement.

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

The administration’s decision is not likely to be the last word, with litigation expected regardless of the outcome.

ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Willow project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day; create up to 2,500 jobs during construction and 300 long-term jobs; and generate billions of dollars in royalties and tax revenues for the federal, state, and local governments, the company says.

As Mr. Biden prepared a final decision on the Willow oil project, his administration announced he will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

Plans announced Sunday night will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea – closing it off from oil exploration – and limit drilling in more than 13 million acres in a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Climate activists have rallied against the Willow project, calling it a “carbon bomb” that would be a betrayal of Mr. Biden’s campaign pledges to curb new oil and gas drilling.

Meanwhile, Alaska lawmakers, unions, and Indigenous communities pressured Mr. Biden to approve the project, saying it would bring much-needed jobs and billions of dollars in taxes and mitigation funds to the vast snow- and ice-covered region nearly 600 miles from Anchorage. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, called Willow “one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state’s history.”

Mr. Biden’s decision on Willow will be one of his most consequential climate decisions and comes as he gears up for a likely reelection bid in 2024. The decision to approve Willow risks alienating young voters who have urged stronger climate action by the White House and flooded social media with demands to stop the Willow project. Approval also could spark protests similar to those against the failed Keystone XL oil pipeline during the Obama administration.

Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation met with top officials at the White House in recent days to lobby for the project. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who provided key support to confirm Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, said it was no secret she has cooperated with the White House on a range of issues.

“Cooperation goes both ways,” she told reporters.

Ms. Haaland, who fought the Willow project as a member of Congress, has the final decision on whether to approve it, although top White House climate officials are likely to be involved, with input from Mr. Biden himself.

Under the conservation plan announced Sunday, Mr. Biden will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, and impose new protections in the petroleum reserve.

The withdrawal of the offshore area ensures that important habitat for whales, seals, polar bears, and other wildlife “will be protected in perpetuity from extractive development,’’ the White House said in a statement.

The action completes protections for the entire Beaufort Sea Planning Area, building upon President Barack Obama’s 2016 withdrawal of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area and the majority of the Beaufort Sea, the White House said.

Separately, the administration moved to protect more than 13 million acres within the petroleum reserve, a 23-million acre chunk of land on Alaska’s North Slope set aside a century ago for future oil production.

The proposed Willow project is within the reserve, and ConocoPhillips has long-held leases for the site. About half the reserve is off limits to oil and gas leasing under an Obama-era rule reinstated by the Biden administration last year.

Areas to be protected include the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay Special Areas, collectively known for their globally significant habitat for grizzly and polar bears, caribou, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

Abigail Dillen, president of the environmental group Earthjustice, welcomed the new conservation plan, but said if the Biden administration believes it has authority to limit oil development in the petroleum reserve, officials should extend those protections to the Willow site.

“They have the authority to block Willow,’’ she said in an interview Sunday.

Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s lands protection program, said the benefits of the new protections would be more than undone by damage from Willow, which would be the biggest new oil field in decades in Alaska.

“No proposal poses a bigger threat to lands, wildlife, communities, and our climate than ConocoPhillips’ Willow project,’’ Mr. Manuel said in a statement. “Oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters must end – full stop. The eyes of the world are watching to see whether this administration will live up to its climate promises.’’

In 2015, President Barack Obama halted exploration in coastal areas of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and he later withdrew most other potential Arctic Ocean lease areas – about 98% of the Arctic outer continental shelf. The bans were intended to protect polar bears, walruses, ice seals, and Alaska Native villages that depend on animals.

President Donald Trump reversed Mr. Obama’s decision, but a federal judge restored the Obama-era restrictions in 2019, ruling that Mr. Trump exceeded his authority.

The Biden administration received one bid in December for the right to drill offshore for oil and gas in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Matthew Daly reported from Washington.