Biden Walks a Tightrope on Energy, Approving Alaska Oil Project While Making Climate Concessions

The Biden administration approved the controversial Willow oil project Monday, which is estimated to produce around 600 million barrels of oil over 30 years. However, the president made key climate concessions.

The administration did not give in to pressure from climate activists to entirely scrap the drill on Alaska’s North Slope. The Department of Interior approved three of the five drilling sites proposed by oil company ConocoPhillips. The reduction in drilling sites is intended to slightly reduce the project’s emissions impact. ConocoPhillips explained that a minimum of three pads would be necessary to make the project economically viable.

As part of the approval, the Houston-based oil company will also make other concessions, such as relinquishing its land rights to about 68,000 acres in that area for a separate project.

The president has been lobbied fiercely by the oil industry to approve the Willow project, according to the New York Times. Alaska lawmakers have also come out strongly in favor of the project.

In a CNN op-ed prior to the approval, Republican Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan as well as Democratic Alaska Representative Mary Peltola urged the administration to consider the state’s economic need.

“The question is whether the Biden-Harris administration recognizes that Willow will dramatically benefit the Alaska Native people who live on the North Slope, our state’s stagnant economy and our nation’s energy security — all while creating hundreds of permanent jobs and thousands of temporary ones, and generating fewer emissions than imported oil,” the trio wrote.

“We need affordable energy today, and we will need it well into the future. And both are reasons why Willow matters,” they added.

The news comes after Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, roundly criticized the administration for pandering to climate activists as it implements certain sections of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden has set out a series of aggressive goals to address climate change and the environment, but he has had to temper his priorities on account of political realities. Manchin is a bulwark in the Senate and Republicans in the House have made their opposition clear.

Separate to this particular approval, the Interior Department announced it would designate 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean as off limits for future oil and gas leasing. Additionally, a new rule has been proposed by Interior to protect more than 13 million acres of federally owned land in Alaska that has significant natural and historic value.

The move sets him apart from President Donald Trump, who tried to open nearly all coastal waters of the United States to oil and gas drilling, including areas that had been protected by the Obama administration.