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US President Joe Biden gave the green light on August 13 to a new oil extraction project in Alaska. In a move that illustrates the contradictions in US climate policy, Biden is heavily criticized by environmentalists.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, approved the Willow megaproject, a new expansion of oil extraction in Alaska; a highly controversial project for being developed in extensive federal lands baptized as National Petroleum Reserve, dWithin the limits of a nature reserve, some 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, a place rich in biodiversity.
The controversy also comes because with the signing, Biden breaks the ecological dynamic that he had promised for his government and fails to fulfill the promise to block new drilling on public land.
The project is led by Houston-based oil giant ConocoPhillips.
The company believes it will produce 180,000 barrels a day when it is at peak output and will provide 300 jobs plus the 250,000 needed to build the infrastructure. The estimated number of barrels would represent about 1.5% of the country’s total oil production.
Although the project has been harshly criticized for its catastrophic impact on the environment, in an area already affected by climate change, it gathers support from local populations who see it as a financial gain and an important source of employment.
Despite the fact that ConocoPhillips had asked to extract oil at five different points, the Government will only allow it to do so at three of them, postponing its decision on the remaining two.
According to the Department of the Interior, this reduces the number of exploration platforms by 40%. Despite this, there will be a total of 199 wells.
“Treason”: environmentalists protest
The White House also announced on Monday the imposition of limits on oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean and on the northern slope of Alaska, a regulation that will only affect future projects and that has not served to mitigate criticism from environmental groups.
According to some organizations such as the Alaska Wilderness League, the project will release some 239 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the air during its 30-year lifespan. This is equivalent to the same amount of gases produced by 1.7 million cars in the same period of time.
“Willow is an appalling betrayal,” said Ellie Cohen, president of The Climate Center. For environmentalists, the risks of the project also include pollution of Alaska’s water and air and the impact on the migratory patterns of animals. Several groups have announced that they will study various actions against the project, including suing the federal government.
Opinions are divided in Alaska around Willow
Along with environmental groups, some other voices within Alaska oppose the project. This is the case of Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, the mayoress of the city of Nuiqsut, the closest to the new project, who is concerned about the impact on caribou and the area’s traditional subsistence lifestyle.
However, other voices support the project based on the monetary consequences it would entail for the region. According to the website of the ConocoPhillips oil company, the Willow project will create between 8,000 and 17,000 million dollars in income through taxes for the federal government, the state of Alaska and local governments in the area.
The certain thing is that between the democratic and republican representatives of the region, the consensus is majority. For US Representative Mary Peltola, a Yup’ik Democrat, there is “such a consensus in the region and throughout Alaska that this bill is a good bill.”
Ahtuangaruak denounces, however, that voices like hers are being silenced.
With AP and EFE
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