Congress

 

Manchin, Murkowski Accuse Biden Of Manipulating Landmark Laws — “Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Friday said they have been frustrated with how the Biden administration is implementing both the bipartisan infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act, accusing agencies of cherry-picking and prioritizing sections of the laws that align with Democrats’ climate goals while eschewing segments relating to fossil fuels. During a press conference at CERAWeek by S&P Global, the country’s banner oil and gas conference in Houston, Manchin said the Biden administration was using administrative rulemaking to rewrite the law. ‘They took a piece of legislation that we passed with the intent of security, and they’re trying to basically administer through what they want,’ the West Virginia Democrat said. ‘They want something that wasn’t passed, and it wasn’t the intent of how we passed what we did.’ Manchin said he had instructed committee aides to be ‘on top of every agency that’s going to be making these determinations,’ including the Department of the Interior, EPA and the Treasury Department. Murkowski pointed to the Cook Inlet oil and gas lease in Alaska that was baked into the Inflation Reduction Act as an example of the Biden administration meddling with the law.” [E&E News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Manchin Drops Support For Biden Interior Nominee — “Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday said he would not support President Joe Biden’s nominee to a top Interior Department position, officially pulling the plug on the nomination as the West Virginia Democrat battles the White House over its climate and energy policies. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chair followed through on comments he made last week signaling he would not support the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis as Interior’s assistant secretary for lands and minerals management over his concerns that the administration was focusing more on climate change than U.S. oil production. His committee is in charge of clearing Biden’s nominees to Interior. Manchin wrote in the Houston Chronicle on Friday ‘that I will not be moving forward the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis as assistant secretary of the Department of Interior.’ Daniel-Davis’ nomination has been in congressional limbo for years. It deadlocked in the Energy committee last year, as Republicans have sought to tie the rise in gasoline prices to Biden’s energy policy. She currently works at Interior as a principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management.” [Politico, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Manchin Won't Support Embattled Interior Nominee — “Sen. Joe Manchin officially pulled his support for Laura Daniel-Davis to serve as Interior assistant secretary for lands and mineral management, ending almost a year of speculation on her nomination. She remains in a similar position at the agency, at least for now. The West Virginia Democrat, who earlier this same week derailed President Joe Biden’s nominee for FCC commissioner and voted against the administration’s pick for IRS commissioner, announced his decision on Daniel-Davis in an op-ed Friday morning in the Houston Chronicle. ‘Today, I have decided, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that I will not be moving forward the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis as assistant secretary of the Department of Interior,’ Manchin wrote, citing his recent discovery that she approved an agency decision putting administration climate goals ahead of Alaska energy production, which he said ran afoul of the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act. ‘Even though I supported her in the past,’ he continued, ‘I cannot, in good conscience, support her or anyone else who will play partisan politics and agree with this misguided and dangerous manipulation of the law.’” [E&E News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Manchin Blocks Interior Nominee, Escalating Split With Biden — “Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Friday he won’t act on President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Interior’s land and minerals operations, part of a broadside he delivered at the White House’s recent energy and climate change policy moves. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and was in Houston for the global energy megaconference CERAWeek, penned an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle in which he said he will not advance the nomination of Laurel Daniel-Davis to serve as DOI’s assistant secretary for land and minerals management. Manchin supported Daniel-Davis, currently the agency’s principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, in previous nomination processes that stalled out. But he said her approval of higher royalty rates for an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet was expressly aimed at discouraging oil and gas development and was part of a pattern of the Biden administration misusing the recently-enacted Inflation Reduction Act to advance climate policy goals at the expense of U.S. energy security.” [Law360, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Manchin Announces Opposition To Top Biden Interior Nominee Over 'Partisan Politics' — “Manchin made the announcement in a Houston Chronicle op-ed published Friday ahead of his visit to CERAWeek by S&P Global, a large annual energy conference in Houston that’s well attended by industry players from around the world. ‘Even though I supported her in the past, I cannot, in good conscience, support her or anyone else who will play partisan politics and agree with this misguided and dangerous manipulation of the law,’ Manchin said. Manchin referred specifically to the revelation that Interior weighed but declined an alternative sale option in its recent offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet that would have charged lower royalties on leased parcels. The lower royalty rate would ‘be expected to incentivize additional blocks receiving bids, increase bonus bids, and increase the chances of a discovery being developed,’ according to an internal memo accidentally made public. That outcome would result in greater government revenues and greater energy security, it said.” [Washington Examiner, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

AP | In Rift With Biden, Manchin Vows To Block Oil, Gas Nominee — “In a sign of a deepening rift among Democrats on energy issues, conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he will not move forward on President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee oil and gas leasing at the Interior Department. Manchin, of West Virginia, chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has great influence on energy and environmental issues in the closely divided Senate. In an op-ed Friday, he cited a leaked memo signed by nominee Laura Daniel-Davis that proposed charging oil companies higher rates for drilling off the Alaska coast. Manchin said the higher rates backed by Daniel-Davis for the proposed drilling project in Alaska’s Cook Inlet ‘were explicitly designed to decrease fossil energy production at the expense of our energy security.’ Even though he had supported Daniel-Davis in the past, ‘I cannot, in good conscience, support her or anyone else who will play partisan politics and agree with this misguided and dangerous manipulation of the law,’ Manchin wrote in the Houston Chronicle.” [ABC News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

GOP Uncovered Memo That May Doom Interior Nomination — “A new mystery hangs over the fate of a beleaguered Interior Department nomination: How did Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) learn of an internal agency memo that put administration climate goals over Alaska energy development? Manchin, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee chair, released a statement March 3 eviscerating the Interior Department and threatening the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis, the nominee who signed off on the document. Meanwhile, it turns out Republicans just days earlier had begun agitating behind the scenes against Daniel-Davis, who has spent nearly two years in limbo as President Joe Biden’s pick to lead Interior’s land and minerals management office. She is currently serving as principal deputy assistant secretary. On Feb. 28, every GOP member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee sent a letter to Daniel-Davis demanding details about her record at the agency. They also made clear the two hearings the committee already convened on her nomination in the last Congress wouldn’t be enough. ‘It is our understanding that you are working with the Democratic leadership of the Committee to bypass a hearing so your nomination can go straight to a committee vote,’ the Republican senators wrote in the letter, obtained by E&E News. ‘We do not support this approach.’” [E&E News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

 

Federal Agencies

 

Q&A: FWS Director Martha Williams Talks Wildlife And Politics — “Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams walks to work, 75 minutes or so of me-time before the meetings and the emails start in. ‘That’s when I sometimes do my best thinking.’ Williams said in an interview. The graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Montana’s law school has been the senior FWS political appointee for the entirety of the Biden administration, first as principal deputy director and then, since May 2022, as the Senate-confirmed director. Prior to joining the Biden administration, Williams served as director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks from 2017 to 2020 (Greenwire, Nov. 12, 2021). Heading the 8,000-employee FWS is a job with a lot of moving pieces, and she is one of them. On Friday, Williams spent much of the morning at National Geographic’s headquarters for a World Wildlife Day program that also served to highlight the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). She was in Panama City last fall for a big CITES conference, and she stressed how the international treaty ‘shows how worldwide the importance of nature is.’ She figures she’s on the road one or two weeks of the month. When Williams is in town on weekends, she’ll help out on her parent’s farm in the Montgomery County, Md., countryside outside of Washington, where during her childhood she learned to ride horses and play competitive polo.” [E&E News, 3/10/23 (+)]

 

 

Courts & Legal

 

Enviro Groups Want Early Win In Oil & Gas Leasing Suit — “A coalition of environmental groups is pressing a D.C. federal judge to invalidate more than 150 leases for oil and natural gas production that the Biden administration issued last year, saying regulators should have reported their cumulative impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The lawsuit, which a coalition including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians filed last June, challenges a suite of energy leases in the Western United States approved that same month by the federal Bureau of Land Management. In a request for summary judgment on Thursday, the environmental groups told U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper that together, the 162 oil and gas leases are expected to add the equivalent of 35 megatonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. That output, the groups say, could cause up to $4.7 billion in environmental damage and increases the likelihood of ‘catastrophic’ global warming. But the Bureau of Land Management failed to aggregate those effects before approving the lease sales last June, the coalition notes. Instead, the BLM reported only how each individual lease would impact greenhouse gas emissions — a violation, the plaintiffs say, of the National Environmental Policy Act.” [Law360, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

 

States & Local

 

Alaska

 

NPR-A Offshore Leasing Limits

 

Biden To Put Arctic Waters Off Limits To New Oil Leases As Willow Decision Looms — “President Joe Biden will declare the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits to new oil and gas leasing, even as a decision looms on whether it will approve a controversial oil project in Alaska, according to a senior administration official. The administration will also announce Monday new rules meant to make 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska off limits for new leases, the official said. Those protections would extend to the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay Special Areas, the official said. But these rules would not affect the controversial Willow project, which the administration is expected to greenlight this week, because ConocoPhillips already has leases. That drilling project would produce up to 180,000 barrels a day of oil in the Alaska wilderness — an anticipated decision that has drawn the ire of environmentalists. The White House has been mulling the Willow decision for weeks. The deliberations have focused on the legal constraints posed by the fact that Conoco has held some leases for decades and ‘has certain valid, existing rights granted by prior Administrations, limiting the Biden Administration’s options,’ the official continued. Stopping new oil leases, plus other measures meant to conserve the Arctic from new drilling, is meant as a ‘fire wall’ to protect 16 million acres of land and water in the state, said the official.” [Politico, 3/12/23 (=)]

 

Biden Closes Arctic To Oil — After Willow — “As the Biden administration signaled it could soon approve a massive oil project on public lands in Alaska, President Joe Biden on Sunday declared the entire Arctic Ocean off-limits to oil and gas leasing. As part of a ‘fire wall’ against future drilling in the far north, the White House announced it is also preparing to overhaul management of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), expanding protections in a large portion of the 24-million-acre swath of public lands in the Arctic. Biden’s sudden conservation announcements arrive as the Interior Department is poised to greenlight ConocoPhillips’ contentious Willow project in the NPR-A, bucking a concerted effort over recent weeks from environmental groups, climate activists and some Alaska Native leaders to block the project. Since Friday, several news organizations have reported that the White House is expected to approve the project in Alaska’s North Slope. In approving the $8 billion development in some form, the White House would be siding with oil advocates in the fierce political divide over whether climate change should dramatically reshape how the nation manages its vast oil and natural gas wealth. Biden has made international commitments to draw down methane and carbon pollution in the United States, support the build-out of clean energy like offshore wind, and supercharge the growth of electric vehicles in the country.” [E&E News, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

AP | As Biden Weighs The Willow Oil Project, He Blocks Other Alaska Drilling — “As President Biden prepares a final decision on the huge Willow oil project in Alaska, his administration announced he will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. Plans announced Sunday night will 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 a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska. The moves come as regulators prepare to announce a final decision on the $8 billion Willow project, a controversial oil drilling plan pushed by ConocoPhillips in the petroleum reserve. Climate activists have rallied against the project, calling it a ‘carbon bomb’ that would be a betrayal of Biden’s campaign pledges to curb new oil and gas drilling. Meanwhile, Alaska lawmakers, unions and indigenous communities have pressured Biden to approve the project, saying it would bring much-needed jobs and billions of dollars in taxes and mitigation funds to the vast, snow- and ice-covered region nearly 600 miles from Anchorage. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, called Willow ‘one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state’s history.’” [NPR, 3/12/23 (=)]

 

Biden Declares U.S. Arctic Ocean Off Limits To New Oil And Gas Leasing — “President Biden moved to block future oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean’s federal waters, part of a sweeping plan to protect 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska. Sunday’s announcement comes as the administration is preparing to approve the massive Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of environmentalists and many Democrats who wanted the project scuttled, according to people familiar with the matter. The limits apply to future leases and wouldn’t stop ConocoPhillips’s Willow project from moving forward. The company has held key oil and gas leases in the region for years. The Interior Department said Mr. Biden had decided to make about 2.8 million acres in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea off limits to future oil and gas leasing indefinitely. The move completes a years-long effort by Democrats to restrict fossil-fuel development in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, building on previous moves by then-President Barack Obama to block leasing in the Chukchi Sea and part of the Beaufort Sea.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

FOX News | Biden Indefinitely Blocks Millions Of Acres Of Land, Water From Future Oil Drilling — “The Biden administration announced Sunday evening that it is indefinitely blocking 16 million acres of federal land and water in Alaska from future fossil fuel drilling. The Department of Interior (DOI) said it had initiated a rule-making process to ‘establish maximum protection’ for 13 million acres of land across the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, set aside by Congress for resource development. In addition, President Biden ordered an additional 2.8 million of acres to be withdrawn from oil and gas leasing in the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. ‘With these actions, President Biden continues to deliver on the most aggressive climate agenda in American history,’ the DOI said in a statement. ‘He has made the United States a magnet for clean energy manufacturing and jobs. He secured record investments in climate resilience and environmental justice.’” [New York Post, 3/13/23 (-)]

 

Biden To Protect 16M Acres In Alaska As Oil Project Decision Nears — “The Biden administration is moving to protect some 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska from future oil and gas drilling, according to plans the Interior Department announced Sunday. The big picture: President Biden’s conservation drive comes as climate activists, environmentalists and other groups express concern that his administration will soon approve the ConocoPhillips Willow oil project, a large-scale facility to be located on the North Slope of a swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). An announcement on this could come as soon as Monday. Context: President Biden has pledged to move away from fossil fuels. But the Willow project that initially got the go-ahead during the Trump administration has the backing of officials including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), some Alaska Native leaders and unions. Details: Biden is prohibiting future oil and gas leasing in the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean, per an Interior Department statement. The department is writing a new proposed rule to protect over 13 million acres in the NPR-A, which its statement noted was populated by grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.” [Axios, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Biden Blocks Some Arctic Oil Drilling As Willow Decision Looms — “The Biden administration on Sunday announced actions aimed at limiting oil and gas drilling in Alaska as it is also expected to soon approve a controversial 30-year oil project. The Biden administration is blocking 2.8 million acres in the Arctic Ocean from oil and gas drilling and will also propose additional protections for 13 million acres of federally owned land in Alaska that have significant natural and historic value, according to an Interior Department Press release. There has not been a federal lease sale in the Arctic Ocean since 2007, according to the department. Leasing is an early step in extracting oil and gas from federal lands and waters. The protections from oil that Biden will announce on Monday come as the administration has also indicated that it is likely to approve a controversial oil development project.” [The Hill, 3/12/23 (=)]

 

Willow Project Approval

 

Biden Administration To Approve Controversial Alaskan Oil Project — “The Biden administration will approve the massive Willow oil project in Alaska in an official release later on Monday, according to a source familiar with the decision, rejecting pleas from environmental groups and some nearby tribal communities to block the development they fear will threaten the pristine wilderness and undermine the president’s promises to fight climate change. The decision will allow ConocoPhillips to develop three drilling sites at its proposed Willow project on federal land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the person said. That is smaller than what Conoco had originally requested, but the company has said that would be large enough to allow the project to proceed. A formal announcement is expected at 6 a.m. Alaska time, a second person familiar with the plan said. The move by the Interior Department represents the latest concession by President Joe Biden to the oil and gas industry and Republican critics who have blamed his climate and energy policies for last year’s spike in gasoline prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent crude prices soaring.” [Politico, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Biden's Arctic Oil Drama — “The White House is looking to strike a political balance with new decisions on Arctic oil, Ben and Andrew write. Driving the news: The Interior Department is today slated to back ConocoPhillips’ big Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope, per a source familiar with the decision and multiple news reports. Approval of three drilling pads — not five, as ConocoPhillips initially sought — caps a years-long political and bureaucratic battle. It will follow Sunday’s announcement of protections elsewhere in the area to block drilling in Alaska’s Arctic seas and 13 million acres onshore in the same region as Willow. The big picture: Willow is substantively and symbolically important. The multi-decade project is estimated to produce over 180,000 barrels per day at its peak in a state where political leaders are keen to revive stagnant output. Oil execs have called it a test of whether the White House will follow through on support for domestic production as the war in Ukraine puts a fresh focus on energy security. Yes, but: Environmentalists see a different test: one of Biden’s bona fides on climate and preserving sensitive Arctic ecosystems. The Wilderness Society’s Karlin Itchoak, in a statement, welcomed the new conservation but said it is ‘not nearly sufficient to blunt the impact’ of Willow.” [Axios, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Report: Biden Administration To Approve Willow Oil Project In Alaska — “The Biden administration will approve the Willow oil project in Alaska, rejecting pleas from environmental groups and some nearby tribal communities to block the development they say will damage the Arctic wilderness and violate the president’s promises to fight climate change, Bloomberg News reported Friday. If finalized, the decision by the Interior Department would represent the latest concession by President Joe Biden to the oil and gas industry, as well as Republican critics who have blamed his climate and energy policies for last year’s spike in gasoline prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent crude prices soaring. Bloomberg reported that senior advisers have signed off on the ConocoPhillips project, and the official approval is set to be released next week by the Interior Department. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denied the report. ‘No final decisions have been made – anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong,’ she said in a statement. ConocoPhillips said it had not received a record of decision from the Interior Department on the project. The approval the Willow project would allow ConocoPhillips to build three well pads rather than the five it had proposed, a scenario the company has said would enable it two move forward with the development. It plans to build miles of pipelines and roads, a gravel pit, an air strip and other infrastructure in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 36,875-square-mile patch of federal land in the Arctic wilderness.” [Politico, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Biden Administration To Approve Major Oil Project In Alaska -Source — “U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration will approve a major and controversial oil drilling project in Alaska on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The decision to move ahead with the project by authorizing three drill sites in northwestern Alaska would come a day after Biden announced sweeping curbs on oil and gas leasing to protect up to 16 million acres of water and land in the region. The Willow project, led by energy giant ConocoPhillips (COP.N), would be located inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 23 million-acre (93 million-hectare) area on the state’s North Slope that is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States. The project, announced in January 2017, is expected to produce about 600 million barrels of oil equivalent over its life, peaking at 180,000 barrels of oil per day, ConocoPhillips says on its website.” [Reuters, 3/12/23 (=)]

 

Biden Administration Expected To Move Ahead On A Major Oil Project In Alaska — “In one of its most consequential climate decisions, the Biden administration is planning to greenlight an enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska, according to two people familiar with the decision. Alaska lawmakers and oil executives have put intense pressure on the White House to approve the project, citing President Biden’s own calls for the industry to increase production amid volatile gas prices. But the proposal to drill for oil has also galvanized young voters and climate activists, many of whom helped elect Mr. Biden and who would view the decision as a betrayal of the president’s promise that he would pivot the nation away from fossil fuels. The approval, by the Interior Department, of the largest proposed oil project in the country would mark a turning point in the administration’s approach to fossil fuel development. The courts and Congress have forced Mr. Biden to back away from his campaign pledge of ‘no more drilling on federal lands, period’ and sign off on some limited oil and gas leases. The Willow project would be one of the few oil developments that Mr. Biden has approved freely, without a court or a congressional mandate.” [The New York Times, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

U.S. Expected To Approve ConocoPhillips Oil-Drilling Project In Alaska — “The Biden administration is preparing to approve the massive Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of environmentalists and many Democrats who wanted the project scuttled, according to people familiar with the matter. A compromise that is expected to be put forward by the Biden administration clears the way for ConocoPhillips to proceed with the development of three drilling sites, down from the five originally sought by the company. The decision is likely to mollify the oil-and-gas industry, which contends that Willow answers Mr. Biden’s demands that operators pump more oil to put a lid on energy prices. Advocates for Willow say the development meets Mr. Biden’s goals of shoring up U.S. energy security, creating union jobs and fostering racial justice, as many Alaskan natives support ConocoPhillips’ plans. But the approval will anger environmentalists who for years have fought against a project they have described as a ticking carbon bomb.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

VIDEO: Biden Expected To Greenlight Alaskan Drilling Project — “This would be the single largest oil operation in the U.S., and mark a major policy shift for President Joe Biden.” [ABC News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Biden Administration To Approve Major Alaska Oil Drilling Project Willow — “The Biden administration is soon set to approve ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, a major oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, according to a congressional source familiar with the details. The decision will be announced next week, the source confirmed. The expected approval is a victory for Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation and a coalition of Alaska Native tribes and groups who hailed the drilling venture as a much-needed new source of revenue and jobs for the remote region. It is a major blow to climate groups and Alaska Natives who oppose Willow, arguing the project will hurt the president’s ambitious climate goals and pose health and environmental risks. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back Friday, saying no final decision on the project had been made, and that the US Department of the Interior would make an ‘independent decision on the Willow Project.’” [CNN, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Report: Biden Backs Alaska Oil Drilling Project Critics Call Ruinous — “The Biden administration is reportedly set to OK a multibillion-dollar oil-drilling project in northwest Alaska by ConocoPhillips that climate change activists claim will be ruinous for the environment. The Interior Department is expected to release details of the project’s approval next week, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. This could be one of the most consequential climate decisions of President Joe Biden’s term. Biden, who campaigned on ending new oil drilling on federal land, is caught in a pickle: Reject the plan ConocoPhillips has sought since 2018 to appease climate activists but set up a lengthy and possible losing legal fight with the oil company, or approve it and face the wrath of environmentalists, who helped to deliver young voters to a president who made fighting climate change a cornerstone of his agenda.” [Newsmax, 3/10/23 (-)]

 

‘Just A Huge Disappointment’: Biden’s Green Allies Set For Defeat On Alaskan Oil Battle — “President Joe Biden’s allies in the climate movement are bracing for their biggest setback from his administration as he moves closer to approving an Alaskan oil project that would pump as much carbon into the atmosphere as 60 coal-burning power plants. The administration is expected to approve ConocoPhillips’ plans to build its proposed Willow project on federal land in the Arctic tundra, according to three people at environmental groups who have talked to the White House and Interior Department in recent days about it. But there is no indication yet that Biden himself has signed off on it, and the administration appears to be still trying to decide how big the project would be, these people said. The White House insisted Friday and Saturday that the administration has made ‘no final decisions’ about the project. But administration officials have touted the importance of oil production in recent months, and people outside the administration said they had been expecting the approval to be announced this past Friday. Biden pledged to halt new oil and gas development on federal land during his 2020 campaign, and he and Democrats in Congress passed landmark climate legislation last summer aimed at weaning huge swaths of the economy off of fossil fuels. But the surge in oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the administration into an awkward embrace of the oil industry, as Biden countered Republican accusations that his policies were to blame for the skyrocketing price at the gas pump that was stoking inflation.” [Politico, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Al Gore Warns It Would Be ‘Recklessly Irresponsible’ To Allow Alaska Oil Drilling Plan — “‘The proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling in Alaska is recklessly irresponsible,’ Gore said. ‘The pollution it would generate will not only put Alaska native and other local communities at risk, it is incompatible with the ambition we need to achieve a net zero future. ‘We don’t need to prop up the fossil fuel industry with new, multi-year projects that are a recipe for climate chaos,’ Gore added. ‘Instead, we must end the expansion of oil, gas and coal and embrace the abundant climate solutions at our fingertips.’” [The Guardian, 3/10/23 (+)]

 

White House Says No Decision Has Been Made On Alaska Drilling Project — “President Joe Biden’s administration has not yet made a final decision on whether to approve ConocoPhillips’ (COP.N) massive Willow oil project in northwest Alaska, the White House said on Friday, pushing back on a media report saying the development would be authorized next week. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a Bloomberg report earlier that cited two unnamed people familiar with the matter. ‘No final decisions have been made -- anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong,’ Jean-Pierre said. According to the Bloomberg report, ConocoPhillips would be permitted to drill from three locations, and approval is set to be announced next week. Three drill sites would align with a ‘preferred alternative’ Interior’s Bureau of Land Management proposed for the $7 billion project last month. ConocoPhillips had originally proposed a larger footprint with five drill sites and more surface infrastructure.” [Reuters, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Biden Denies Reports That Alaska Oil Drilling Project Has Been Approved — “The Biden administration has denied reports that it has authorized a key oil drilling project on Alaska’s north slope, a highly contentious project that environmentalists argue would damage a pristine wilderness and gut White House commitments to combat climate crisis. Late Friday, Bloomberg was first to report citing anonymous sources that senior Biden advisers had signed off on the project and formal approval would be made public by the Interior Department next week. The decision to authorize drilling on the north slope, if correct, would amount to one of the most symbolically important climate decisions of Biden’s political career and place his administration in conflict with the climate-alert left wing of the Democratic party. But that pressure is countered by unions and some Indigenous communities in Alaska who say approval of the project would provide economic security in the state beyond the borders of the 9.3m-hectare (23m acres) area of the north slope that is considered the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the US.” [The Guardian, 3/11/23 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: #Stopwillow Has Become Too Big To Ignore – Are You Listening, President Biden? — “Before becoming a fashion model – which was my dream since childhood – I was on my journey as a land protector. My journey did not start with advocating against big oil from developing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – it began with my upbringing by my matriarchy. As a child, I was taught to respect water, land, and our animal relatives, all of which are central to preserving our culture and way of life. Growing up, I didn’t see people who looked like me in magazines and on runways, and thought my modeling hopes were futile. Today, with those dreams fulfilled, I am honored to walk the runway as a proud Hän Gwich’in woman who carries the strength of my ancestors and a responsibility to my people – and Indigenous Peoples everywhere. I am where I am now thanks to many strong Indigenous women who came before me and who are doing the work today. Today, some of those women leaders in the community of Nuiqsut, Alaska are seeing their way of life threatened by the massive ConocoPhillips Willow Project. The proposed Willow Project is the largest oil project proposed on public lands in the country. Located in a remote region of the Western Arctic that has been experiencing dramatic climate change impacts, this project would pave the way for ConocoPhillips to develop a drilling operation aiming to get the around 600 million barrels of oil in the area for decades into the future.” [CNN, 3/10/23 (+)]

 

TikTok Campaign Targets Controversial Alaska Willow Oil Project — “With 161.5 million views and counting on TikTok alone, the #StopWillow social media campaign has left no question of the groundswell of opposition to the proposed oil development project Willow on Alaska’s remote North Slope. Social media users have been using the hashtag to voice their resistance to President Joe Biden’s failure to keep his campaign pledges to reduce oil drilling. ‘With all of the progress that the U.S. government has made on climate change, it now feels like they’re turning their backs by allowing Willow to go through,’ said climate activist Hazel Thayer, who posted TikTok videos using the #StopWillow hashtag, as The Associated Press reported. ‘I think a lot of young people are feeling a little bit betrayed by that.’ Final approval of the Willow project lies with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who opposed the Willow project and fought against it as a member of Congress. There is likely to be input on the final decision from top White House climate officials, as well as President Biden himself. Climate activists have called the Willow project a ‘carbon bomb,’ and a change.org petition had more than 3.1 million signatures, with a goal of 4.5 million.” [EcoWatch, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

 

Will The Future Of Alaska’s Wild Lands Hang On A Dispute Over A Gravel Road? — “A dispute has raged for years over the construction of a road that would cross at least 11 miles of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, nearly all of which is a federal wilderness considered one the world’s most important migratory bird stopovers. Allowing the road would threaten not only the refuge’s delicate wetlands that beckon and sustain the birds but also the legal foundation that protects more than 100 million acres of federal land in the state. A land swap with an Alaskan Native Village corporation approved by the Trump administration would strip a narrow corridor in the refuge of its protection and turn it into a gravel road. A Federal District Court judge concluded that the deal was illegal, but then a federal appeals court panel voted 2-1 to reverse that decision. The two judges voting for the road were appointed by former President Donald Trump. Another former president, Jimmy Carter, who signed the landmark law preserving more than 100 million acres in Alaska, has called that decision ‘not only deeply mistaken’ but also ‘dangerous.’ Those protections would be ‘negated’ if the ruling were upheld, Mr. Carter wrote in a legal brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. An 11-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is now reconsidering the decision. A majority of the panel members are Trump appointees.” [The New York Times, 3/12/23 (+)]

 

Gulf of Mexico

 

As One Gulf Of Mexico Oil And Gas Lease Sale Is In Question, Another Is Moving Forward — “As the fate of a March oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico hangs in the balance, the Biden administration is pressing forward with a September lease sale that will mirror the auction in question. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees the federal oil and gas leasing program for public lands and offshore waters, released preliminary details Friday for the September sale. The September and March sales were both mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act that Congress passed in 2022. Six environmental justice groups sued the Biden administration earlier this week in an attempt to block the March sale. The groups say the federal government’s climate impact analyses for the sale were woefully inadequate, among other issues. The September sale will offer up more than 73.4 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for potential leasing, according to BOEM’s notice of sale. The sales are federal auctions that let companies bid for space to explore and possibly extract oil and natural gas. BOEM is proposing to hold the sale Sept. 27. Bids are due from companies a day earlier. Bids would be largely limited to the Gulf’s western and central regions, with a sliver of blocks available in the Gulf’s eastern region.” [The Advocate, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

Wyoming

 

Greens Ask BLM To Enforce Sage Grouse Rules In Wyoming — “A coalition of environmental groups this week asked Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning to stop her agency from granting exceptions to protective stipulations for greater sage grouse in Wyoming. The groups, led by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Western Watersheds Project, claimed that information they obtained from BLM through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that the bureau has granted 90 percent of the 127 requests for exemptions to timing restrictions and other measures over the past four years in the state of Wyoming, which is home to nearly half the remaining grouse population. ‘It is obvious that this tendency to broadly grant exception requests will undermine efforts to conserve sage grouse populations,’ the groups said in a letter sent this week to Stone-Manning. ‘The routine granting of exceptions by BLM field offices demonstrates that relying on protective timing stipulations is inadequate to protect sage grouse from disturbance during oil and gas development and other activities.’ They asked Stone-Manning in the letter to stop granting exemptions until ‘procedures and application forms for exceptions among all BLM field offices’ are standardized and become more publicly transparent, and steps are taken to ensure that ‘decisions on proposed exceptions comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.’” [E&E News, 3/10/23 (=)]

 

 

 

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