The extraction of oil has been a contentious debate in recent decades. Whilst the majority of the world’s energy requirements still depend on fossil fuels, the environmental impact that extraction methods have on the surrounding area is a cause for concern among environmental groups and local inhabitants, including local indigenous communities.
The Willow Project, headed by ConocoPhillips, is a further risk to the future degradation of Alaska’s surrounding environment. Located in the region’s Northern Slope, the area lies within the Arctic coastal tundra. The Northern Slope was previously the largest area of undisturbed public land in the United States. However, the proposed project would see the destruction of 23 million acres of land and potentially produce up to 180,000 barrels per day, equating to 1.5% of the total US oil production. Furthermore, the project would create Alaska's largest oil field in decades and the largest planned oil drilling on public lands in the United States.
The project was first approved during the Trump administration in 2020, however after Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 it was put on hold as he signed an executive order to stop new Arctic drilling, with a further suspension of oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in June. Biden’s action to cease oil activities vindicated his environmentally-focused presidential campaign. In fact, in a debate with Bernie Sanders in 2020, Biden declared “No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one.” With the promise of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030 and his decision to cut the Keystone XL Oil pipeline, it came as a complete shock to many of his supporters when the now-president decided to proceed with the Willow project to drill on federal land in March 2023.
The complete U-turn from his earlier speech during the presidential campaign has caused a tense division between those in favour of the Willow project and those who oppose it. ConocoPhillips’ victory with the presidential approval was celebrated by Alaskan politicians and a coalition of Alaskan Native tribes, both of which welcomed the project’s promise of providing new sources of revenue and jobs. According to Doreen Leavitt, Director of Natural Resources for the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, “Just a few decades ago, many villages had no running water…We still have a long ways to go. We don’t want to go backwards.”[1] Leavitt further argued that the past 50 years of oil production in the Northern Slope have demonstrated the possible coexistence between development and wildlife, as well as the traditional way of life. There was further indigenous support from Utqiaġvik community, the country’s most northern population.
However, the cries of anger and despair certainly suppress the cheers of celebration for the approval of the project to resume. A lawsuit was filed almost immediately by the Trustees for Alaska on behalf of a coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups. They argued that the approval should be scrapped as the Biden administration did not fully review the direct and indirect climate risks and harm to wildlife and the local communities. Siqiñiq Maupin, Executive Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), stated that the approval of the project “makes no sense for the health of the Arctic or the planet and comes after numerous calls by local communities for tribal consultation and real recognition of the impacts to land, water, animals, and people."[2] The Willow project would unjustly affect Nuiqsut, a predominantly Iñupiat village that is already encompassed by oil extraction sites. The local community contend with high rates of chronic illnesses as a result of the pollution they are currently exposed to. Furthermore, the drilling would harm the fragile ecosystem, which the village depends on for primary resources. SILA’s attempts to protest the project involved a demonstration outside of the White House, which further drives home the impact of current oil development on their surrounding area and community:
It is clear that the contentious project has caused tension between its supporters and its opposers. Even within the indigenous communities, the project promises to deepen the rift between the supporters who desire the economic opportunities that it will provide, and those who oppose it, who fear the environmental degradation and the impact on health that it will undoubtedly cause.
References:
[1] https://apnews.com/article/oil-drilling-willow-alaska-natives-biden-41a725010e9500628318cd9c56e0d700
[2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-and-indigenous-groups-sue-over-willow-oil-drilling-project/
Author: Olivia Ronan
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