This project will enable the production of 576 million barrels of oil over around 30 years, with the indirect emission of the equivalent of 239 million tonnes of CO2.
Green light for the Willow project. The American administration of Joe Biden approved on Monday March 13 the project of the American giant ConocoPhillips, a large oil exploitation in Alaska, extremely contested by the defenders of the environment in the United States, who had launched a vast campaign to alert on its negative consequences for the climate.
The project has been reduced to three drilling areas against the five initially requested by the company, however argued the Department of the Interior, in charge of federal lands in the United States. The oil development will be located in an area called the National Petroleum Reserve in northwest Alaska. This is land belonging to the American state, while the Democratic president had come to power by promising not to authorize new oil and gas drilling on federal land.
The equivalent of emissions from 64 coal-fired power plants
The approved project will produce 576 million barrels of oil over about 30 years, according to the ministry document. In total, it will result in the indirect emission of the equivalent of 239 million tonnes of CO2. This represents the equivalent of the emissions of 64 coal-fired power plants for one year, according to a calculation tool from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To give an order of magnitude, the United States released in 2020 the equivalent of 5.9 billion tons of CO2, according to the EPA.
Anxious at the same time to give pledges to environmental defenders, the American government has announced that it is working on additional protections for a vast area of the national oil reserve. He also announced that he wanted to permanently ban drilling over a large area of the Arctic Ocean, bordering this reserve. The defenders of the Willow project see it as a source of jobs, and a contribution to the energy independence of the United States.
Over 3.2 million signatures on an online petition
But environmental associations denounce a disaster for the climate. “Willow is going to be one of the largest oil and gas operations on federal public lands in the country”reacted on Monday the environmental organization Sierra Club. “The carbon pollution it will release into the air will have devastating effects on our people, wildlife, and climate. We will suffer the consequences for decades to come.” For days, a wave of videos opposing the project had swept through the social network TikTok, and an online petition had collected more than 3.2 million signatures.
The battle over Project Willow has been going on for years. It was initially approved by the Trump administration, before being temporarily halted in 2021 by a judge, who sent it back for further government review.