The Biden administration on Monday approved an $8 billion oil development on Alaska’s North Slope.
ConocoPhillips’ Willow prospect in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is expected to be one of the largest oil fields developed in the state in decades and could produce oil for 30 years.
The administration’s decision is not likely to end the debate, however, with litigation expected from environmental groups.
Depending on litigation, first oil could flow before the end of the decade. Peak production, estimated at 180,000 barrels of oil a day, could come a few years after operations begin, possibly boost North Slope production by 30% in the 2030s.
The administration approved three drill sites, which the ConocoPhillips has said is economically viable, though the company had asked for five drill sites. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, as part of its environmental review, recommended three sites to limit the environmental impact.
The White House’s decision bucked intense pressure from environmental groups, which have called the project a “carbon bomb” and said it contradicts President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
Many Alaska Native leaders, elected officials and business groups have lobbied intensely for approval of the project, saying it would provide badly needed revenues to support North Slope municipalities, help Alaska’s economy and pump several billion dollars into the state treasury over the life of production— though the mayor of the Inupiaq village closest to the project has opposed it.
The decision comes a day after the Biden administration announced it will limit oil drilling on 16 million acres in the NPR-A and the Arctic Ocean in an apparent nod to environmental groups that have fought the Willow project.
The plan would bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea — closing it off from oil exploration — and limit drilling in more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The withdrawal of the offshore area ensures that important habitat for whales, seals, polar bears and other wildlife “will be protected in perpetuity from extractive development,″ the White House said in a statement.
The conservation actions complete protections for the entire Beaufort Sea Planning Area, building upon President Barack Obama’s 2016 action on the Chukchi Sea Planning Area and the majority of the Beaufort Sea, the White House said.
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