Climate Wire | Environmentalists filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Biden administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project, marking a new stage in the battle over drilling in the Alaska National Oil Reserve.
The hotly contested $8 billion project opens three new drilling areas in the remote wilderness of Alaska’s western North Slope and is estimated to be capable of producing about 600 million barrels of oil over a 30-year life. increase.
A lawsuit filed by the Alaska Trustee on behalf of a coalition of environmental and indigenous groups reverses approval in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska because the federal government failed to consider the project’s indirect and direct climate risks. I asked. So does the harm to wildlife, such as polar bear fledging and subsistence hunting.
“The approval of the ConocoPhillips Willow Project by the Biden administration makes no sense for the health of the Arctic or the planet, and it has drawn the attention of local communities seeking tribal consultation and real recognition of their impact on land, water, animals and people. It has come as a result of numerous calls,” said Sikinik Maupin, Executive Director of Sovereign Inupiat for the Living Arctic (SILA), in a statement.
SILA, along with the Alaska Wilderness League, Environment America, the North Alaska Environmental Center, the Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society, are all parties to the lawsuit.
The group said Willow’s approval by the Bureau of Land Management did not undergo the “rigorous scrutiny” required under the National Environmental Policy Act and was subject to the Naval Oil Reserves Production Act, the Alaska Land Conservation Act, procedural laws and other federal laws. law.
“These laws require consideration of alternatives and a thorough, transparent and careful analysis of the impact of ConocoPhillips’ proposals by BLM. By failing to consider the proposal, we violated these laws,” the Alaska Board of Trustees said. court. The lawsuit also alleges that the Fish and Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously by finding that the project did not adequately consider the risks to polar bears from oil and gas development.
Opponents further argued that the Biden administration’s environmental review failed to address all concerns raised by U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska judge Sharon Gleason in a 2021 order blocking the project. The Trump administration had initially given ConocoPhillips the go-ahead for five of his drilling areas in 2020. This was done as part of a push to expand domestic fossil fuel production under the Energy Independence Agenda.
Gleason, appointed under the Obama administration, failed to adequately consider alternatives or options to “maximally protect” areas of ecological importance to waterfowl and caribou around Lake Teshekpuk. For this reason, Willow was rejected.
BLM released the final record of the decision on Monday in response to a 2021 court order. This reduced the overall size of the ConocoPhillips project to his three well sites containing up to 199 wells.
ConocoPhillips commended the project’s approval on Monday, saying it would create union jobs and benefit Alaska Native communities.green wireMarch 13).
ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said in a statement:
The project is also backed by a delegation from the Alaska Legislature, which said in a statement Monday that the project has economic benefits.
The new lawsuit accuses the Biden administration of continuing to consider alternatives, including infrastructure in the Lake Teshekupuk and Colville River Special Zones.
These groups said the BLM, in its final record of decision, said that excluding these areas from development “does not meet the objectives and needs of the project and would strand an economically viable amount of oil.” He was quoted as claiming
The lawsuit also notes that the Biden administration’s own analysis found that the project’s preferred alternative “does not lead to significant reductions in direct impacts on subsistence harvesters in Nuiqsut.” .
Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity followed the Alaska Trustee in filing their own federal legal challenges on Tuesday, making similar allegations against the Biden administration.
Their lawsuit also alleged that NOAA Fisheries failed to consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on ringed and bearded seals.
“There is no question that the administration had the legal power to stop Willow, but they did not choose it. Give the go-ahead to this carbon bomb and say no without considering
“We are committed to ensuring that the administration abides by the law and ultimately delivers on this promise for future generations.
This story also appeared energy wire.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2023. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
