Behind the Willow: United States’s Climate Policy Struggle in Driving the Clean Energy Transition

Oleh : Annabella Arawinda Arundhati

On March 13, shocking news came from the Biden Administration regarding the Willow Project approval in Alaska. The Willow Project is an oil drilling venture on the slope of North Alaska proposed by a Houston-based energy company, ConocoPhillips, and approved by the Trump administration in 2020 (Nilsen, 2023). This project reaped controversy because it posed a vast climate threat with a total of 9.2 million tons of carbon pollution produced each year and will reach the equivalent of 277 million tons over the thirty years as the expected time of the project production (Gordon, 2023). Trying to lower the climate threat concerns that hold up the project’s legal permits in 2021, the Biden Administration initially decided to reduce the number of approved drilling pads. However, the project will still be able to run by drilling about 90% oil of the target with the three approved drilling pads.

In response to this decision, climate advocates have been expressing their opposition towards President Joe Biden by noting his inconsistency as America’s first “Climate President” (Milman, 2023). Moreover, Biden’s step in approving the Willow Project also showed the United States’s struggle to drive the clean energy transition he promised during the Presidential Campaign in 2020, saying there would be no more oil drilling on federal lands. This also contrasts with the US’s ambitions to invest more in clean energy efforts in COP 27. (United States Government, 2022). Quoting Montgomery in the Alaskan news of Alaskan Beacon (2023), the reasons behind this approval rest on the legal right of the project, the future of domestic oil fuel, and the global energy crisis due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Addressing the legal issues behind the Willow Project, the Biden Administration stated ConocoPhillips holds the legal right to drill oil that could cost the government millions of dollars if the leases are canceled (Montgomery, 2023). Moreover, the availability of oil in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) opens the potential of a future major new oil production area for the United States as there is a prediction of US oil production decline in the later decade. It is also important to note that the Russian fossil fuels import sanctions — due to the Russia-Ukraine war — have made the US the lifeline of oil and natural gas exporters for Europe. For this reason, fossil fuel production counted as a critical aspect of the global economy that made the US struggle to let go of the Willow Project. At last, these reasons behind the approval of the Willow Project have shown that there is still a long way to go for the US in advancing its climate policy promised by Biden, especially in driving the clean energy transition.

References

Gordon, N. (2023, March 16). The Willow Project and the Race to Pump the “Last Barrel” of Oil. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/03/16/willow-project-and-race-to-pump-last-barrel-of-oil-pub-89298

Milman, O. (2023, March 14). Biden’s approval of Willow project shows inconsistency of US’s first ‘climate president’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/14/biden-president-approved-alaska-willow-project

Montgomery, S. L. (2023, March 16). 3 reasons the Willow Arctic oil drilling project was approved. Alaska Beacon. https://alaskabeacon.com/2023/03/16/3-reasons-the-willow-arctic-oil-drilling-project-was-approved/

Nilsen, E. (2023, March 14). The Willow Project has been approved. Here’s what to know about the controversial oil-drilling venture. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/14/politics/willow-project-oil-alaska-explained-climate/index.html

United States Government. (2022, November 18). Driving the Clean Energy Transition: A Progress Report on Implementing U.S. Efforts to Advance Clean Energy — United States Department of State. State Department. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.state.gov/driving-the-clean-energy-transition-a-progress-report-on-implementing-u-s-efforts-to-advance-clean-energy/