The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for Alaska defending the Willow project within the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska on the North Slope that’s been halted by litigation. The Biden Administration in January announced it would review the final Record of Decision for the Willow Master Development Plan, approved in October of 2020 by the Trump Administration. The Biden Administration found that the Record of Decision is legally sufficient. This filing follows weeks of advocacy and outreach by Alaska’s Congressional Delegation, who held a press conference on Thursday addressing the decision.
Congressman Don Young said, “This is a good day. This week has been a good week. I’m grateful it was the Willow Decision by Administration to, actually not oppose it and work with the delegation. I talked to Deb Haaland two days ago and told me this is going to happen. I’m very excited about it. I think it’s a good day for Alaska and the pipeline and the constant flow of revenue into the state of Alaska.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, “This is a project that has a long history. Some people think that this has just been a recent project. This actually began when the leases were acquired under the Clinton Administration, that’s how far back this project goes in terms of the planning. We went from Clinton, we had Bush Administration, Obama Administration, Trump Administration, and now into the Biden Administration. So, if you want to talk about a project that has been reviewed thoroughly, this has been a thorough, thorough process.”
When asked if the Biden Administration sees this as a means of trying to compete with Russia now that things are heating in the arctic and the possibility of additional projects like Willow moving forward, Sen. Dan Sullivan said, “American Energy Independence, the ability of America to produce its own energy – oil, gas, renewables – is in an enormously important, comparative advantage and strategic advantage relative to countries that don’t share our interests, particularly Russia and China. There’s no argument against that. If we are producing less energy and are more reliant on energy from the Middle East as a nation or, as Sen. Murkowski stated, energy from Russia, that’s not good for our national security.”
The Willow project, proposed by ConocoPhillips is estimated to provide more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day at peak production, $10 billion in revenue for the state, local and federal governments during its lifespan, 2,000 construction jobs, and 300 permanent jobs.