The Willow Project
Recently, the Biden Administration has come under fire for the approval of the $6 billion oil and gas initiative known as the Willow Project. In 2020, this effort was approved by the Trump Administration, but was ruled as unlawful by a court in 2021 after it was sued by environmental organizations. In his campaign, Biden ran on a platform of moving the country towards greener energy sources and reducing harmful emissions. The approval of the project directly contradicts these goals and will have a disastrous impact on the environment overall. The project is being directed by ConocoPhillips, who claim themselves as the biggest oil producers in Alaska. The project was approved because ConocoPhillips holds the leases, has a legal right to drill, and the government did not want a legal battle with the company.
However, as climate change has made drilling more difficult, due to melting frost, the company plans on “refreezing” the tundra using chillers before drilling. The Willow Project would extract 500 million barrels of oil from a federally protected area. According to Environment America, the emissions from this project alone would equal the total amount released by 76 new coal fired power plants in a year.
This would further damage an already fragile environment. Currently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the global temperatures have risen by approximately 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit from 1901 to 2020, sea levels are rising at an unprecedented rate, the thickness of 30 prominent glaciers have shrunk by about 60 feet, and the amount of carbon dioxide has risen by about 40% since the Industrial Revolution. Weather has become more sporadic and more regions, especially the United States, are experiencing unprecedented precipitation. The Willow Project, which would extract 500 million barrels of oil and release a large amount of emissions would certainly have lasting damaging effects on an already damaged environment.
A tundra can be classified as an area that is extremely cold, but has no trees due to a mixture of factors. The Alaskan tundra is estimated to be about 34 million hectares of federally protected lands that ConocoPhillips wants to destroy.
This plan will ensure the destruction of the tundra. In order for the project to be successful, the company will need to begin installing infrastructure such as roads and bridges, disrupting the natural tundra. In addition to the destruction of the homes of animals, this project will also have serious repercussions on the indigenous tribes in the area. These oil wells are a public safety hazard and will lead to more illness and higher death rates among people native to that area. As oil wells have been created, the village of Nuisqut has seen a rise in respiratory illnesses increase about 20%. In addition, many of the people of the area rely on hunting caribou of the area as a source of food. However, the Willow Project is set to most likely cause the extinction of the species, who run free in the tundra due to higher temperatures and changing landscapes. This would destroy the tundra ecosystem as well as many traditional ways of life of the region. We must fight back against the Willow Project and its disastrous effects while we still have time left.
