Environmental activists criticize approval of the Willow Project

What is Project Willow?

It consists of an important oil and gas extraction project in the northern region of Alaska: around 180 thousand barrels per day. Estimates from the United States Bureau of Land Management indicate that it will generate up to 278 million tons of CO2 throughout its 30-year useful life.

However, ConocoPhillips – the company responsible for Willow Project – claims it will encourage local investment, create thousands of jobs and allow only three drilling sites for the project and not the five initially proposed. The reduction is a welcome treat for anti-Willow activists.

Understand the criticism

In recent weeks, the news that 8 billion dollars will be invested in Willow Project went around the world and generated great discontent among environmentalists. More than a million letters of protest reached the White House and a petition calling for the project to be suspended received more than three million signatures. 

Activists argue that the Willow Project is contrary to promePresident Biden's actions to combat climate change. “It is the wrong decision and will be a disaster for wildlife, lands, communities and our climate,” says the manifesto released by environmental organization Sierra Club.

In addition to environmental activists, the project is also being criticized by celebrities and young people from generation Z, who are showing increasingly concerned about climate change.

To get around the situation, the US government said it will propose new limits on drilling on more than five million hectares of ecologically sensitive land in the Alaskan oil reserve. This is an area reserved for a century for future oil production in the region, which is home to endangered species, including polar bears.

“With these actions, President Biden continues to deliver on the most aggressive climate agenda in United States history,” said a statement from the White House. But environmental groups warn that the new limits are insufficient.

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