States & Local

 

Alaska

 

Alaska Oil Drilling Willow Project Approved, Despite Viral Protests — “Despite heavy opposition from environmental activists, a viral TikTok campaign and a campaign promise by President Joe Bien to move the U.S. away from fossil fuels, the federal government greenlighted a controversial oil drilling project on pristine Alaskan land on Monday. That decision won’t just impact the climate in the future, it could lead to more distrust of government among young people, experts told ABC News. The $8 billion ConocoPhillips Willow Project is expected to generate 180,000 barrels of oil per day. As climate activists utilized traditional methods to protest against the project by writing more than a million letters to the White House and launching multiple petitions that amassed more than 4 million signatures, the TikTok generation had other ideas. Last week, videos posted to the social media platform with the hashtags #StopWillow and #StopTheWillowProject garnered hundreds of millions of views. TikTok isn’t just comprised of popular dance videos, Dana R. Fisher, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, who has been studying climate activism since the 1990s, told ABC News. Instead, young activists used a ‘very common tactic’ to mobilize TikTok users in a growing topic on the platform to educate users, Fisher said.” [ABC News, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

AFP | Lawsuit Filed In Bid To Halt Alaska Oil Drilling Project — “Environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to halt a controversial oil drilling project in Alaska approved by the Biden administration. The Interior Department gave the green light on Monday to US energy giant ConocoPhillips to drill for oil at three sites in the federally owned National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s pristine western Arctic. Environmental groups had urged President Joe Biden, who vowed during the 2020 White House race not to approve any new oil and gas leases on public lands, to reject the so-called Willow Project. The six groups that filed the suit in US District Court accused the Interior Department and other agencies of violating the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws by authorizing the project. ‘ConocoPhillips’ massive oil and gas project presents a real threat to the wildlife, ecosystems, and communities of Arctic Alaska,’ said Mike Scott of the Sierra Club, one of the complainants in the suit. ‘If they’re allowed to break ground, the Willow Project would be a disaster for the climate, the effects of which would be felt for decades,’ Scott said in a statement.” [Yahoo! News, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Environmental Groups Sue Biden Administration Over Alaska Oil Project — “Six environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to stop the ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil project in Alaska from going ahead after it was approved by the Biden administration. Driving the news: The coalition alleges that the administration approved the project despite knowing the harm posed to Arctic communities, wildlife and climate, and argues that it will spew toxic emissions and greenhouse gas pollution, undermining President Biden’s climate promises. Context: The project is estimated to produce about 576 million barrels of oil over 30 years and will be located on a portion of Alaska’s North Slope — one of the last unspoiled wilderness areas in the country. 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: The groups accused government agencies of failing to consider the impact on land used by Alaska Natives and on endangered species such as polar bears. ‘Willow would result in the construction and operation of extensive oil and gas and other infrastructure in sensitive arctic habitats and will significantly impact the region’s wildlife, air, water, lands, and people,’ the lawsuit states. The groups allege that the Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider reasonable alternatives that would lessen the impacts.” [Axios, 3/15/23 (+)]

 

Inside The Biden Administration’s Fraught Decision To Green-Light The Controversial Willow Project — “About two weeks before the Biden administration approved the Willow oil drilling project – slated to extract millions of barrels of oil from Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve – Interior Secretary Deb Haaland held a meeting with key environmental advocates and Indigenous groups that opposed the project. Those constituents prevailed on her to reject the massive ConocoPhillips drilling venture. Haaland explained that the agency had to make difficult choices, much to the dismay of the people she was meeting with. Haaland did not explicitly say which way the department was leaning on the decision at the time. Sources in the meeting said that she got choked up about it, which they took as an indication that she was personally not in favor of the project. ‘It was evident physically how hard this position was for her to be in,’ one source said. After months of internal deliberations, the Biden administration officially greenlit the massive oil drilling project on Monday amid fierce pressure from the state’s congressional delegation and major pushback from environmental groups, the latter of which will now attempt to stop the project in court. On Monday night, Haaland posted a video on Twitter calling Willow a ‘difficult and complex issue that was inherited’ from the Trump administration, which originally approved a larger version of it in 2020.” [CNN, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

Courthouse News | Biden Sign-Off On Willow Drill Deal Marks Detour From Climate Goals — “The largest proposed oil drilling on U.S. public land in decades, an expansive project in Alaska’s northern reaches, won federal approval Monday, bringing the Biden administration a rare round of applause from right-wing members of Congress. Bureau of Land Management officials signed off on the ConocoPhillips drilling operation known as the Willow project in a 124-page record of decision. Three out of five proposed drilling sites have been approved on the National Petroleum Reserve, federal land that sits atop hundreds of millions of barrels of oil reserves spans some 23 million acres along Alaska’s northern coast. Delegates to Congress from the Last Frontier applauded the decision. ‘Willow is finally reapproved, and we can almost literally feel Alaska’s future brightening because of it,’ Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said. ‘After years of relentless advocacy, we are now on the cusp of creating thousands of new jobs, generating billions of dollars in new revenues, improving quality of life on the North Slope and across our state, and adding vital energy to … fuel the nation and the world.’” [Missoula Current, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Willow Project To Deliver Jobs, Billions In Government Revenue — “The Biden administration’s approval of the oil drilling operation known as the Willow Project over objections from environmental groups is expected to deliver substantial benefits to Alaska’s economy and billions in government revenue. The Willow Project is located on Alaska’s North Slope in a small portion of what’s known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). It has a footprint of about 500 acres, while the NPR-A is a 23 million-acre area on the North Slope originally set aside 100 years ago by President Warren Harding as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy before it was transferred to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and opened for potential oil and gas leasing in 1976. ConocoPhillips, which will develop the Willow Project, said it estimates the project will provide between $8 billion and $17 billion in new tax revenue to the federal government, the state of Alaska and North Slope Borough communities. The project has the potential to create over 2,500 construction jobs and approximately 300 long-term jobs. The company estimated the Willow Project will yield a peak of 180,000 barrels of oil per day or more than 65 million barrels per year, which will reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil. It also noted that the Willow Project went through five years of regulatory review under the National Environmental Policy Act and is designed with mitigation measures intended to avoid interfering with the subsistence activities of Alaska Native communities.” [FOX Business, 3/14/23 (-)]

 

VIDEO: Dan Sullivan: Willow Oil Project Is A ‘Victory’ For America — “Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) outlines the economic and environmental benefits of the Alaska Willow Oil Project on ‘America Reports.’” [FOX News, 3/14/23 (-)]

 

VIDEO: Alaska Paid ‘Steep Price’ To Get Massive Oil Project Approval From Biden: Gov. Mike Dunleavy — “Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says the state is investigating whether Biden has the authority to scale back the Willow oil project.” [FOX Business, 3/14/23 (-)]

 

Manchin Aligns With GOP On Biden Oil Drilling Project, Defends Record On Energy Production As Dems Fret — “Democrat West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin joined his Republican colleagues Monday in support of President Joe Biden’s decision to approve a massive oil drilling project in Alaska, despite a number of his fellow Democrats accusing the administration of contradicting its own climate policies. ‘I welcome today’s Record of Decision (ROD) that finally reapproves the ConocoPhillips Willow Project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve,’ Manchin, who serves as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. ‘This is a long awaited and critical step towards shoring up American energy security.’ ‘Responsible development of our abundant natural resources is essential if we are to maintain our status as the superpower of the world, capable of supporting our allies around the globe,’ he said, noting there is need for further reform for permitting drill sites and calling it ‘a levelheaded decision that will strengthen Alaska and our entire nation.’ The Biden administration announced Monday that it was moving forward with approving the massive 30-year oil drilling project over objections from climate activists and Democrat lawmakers about its environmental impact.” [FOX News, 3/14/23 (-)]

 

Massive Oil Project Sparked Civil War Within Biden Administration, Lawmakers Say — “The approval process for a massive Alaska oil drilling project sparked intense disagreements within the Biden administration that culminated with a tactful media leak late last week, according to two senators who advocated for the project. President Joe Biden and senior White House advisers ultimately made the call to green-light the Willow Project, a drilling project that its developer, ConocoPhillips, forecasted to produce up to 614 million barrels of crude oil over its 30-year lifespan, but faced stiff opposition from officials elsewhere in the administration, Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan told reporters during a call Monday. ‘Were there people within the administration, within the Department of Interior, that were working to actively kill this? Absolutely, positively,’ Murkowski said. ‘I don’t think you have to name names. Let’s just put out there that this administration has made no secret of the fact that they want to move beyond oil.’ ‘There are absolutely people in the administration today who are not viewing this as good news,’ she continued. ‘I think they tried to actively work against us, and they worked against us right up until the end.’” [FOX News, 3/13/23 (-)]

 

Biden Approves Massive Oil Drilling Project Climate Activists Derided As 'Carbon Bomb' — “Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, joined ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the importance in approving the Willow Project and how it would benefit the U.S. economy and energy sector. The Biden administration announced Monday that it is moving forward with approving a massive 30-year oil drilling project in Alaska over objections from climate activists and Democratic lawmakers about its environmental impact. The Department of Interior (DOI) approved three of the five drilling sites proposed by oil company ConocoPhillips as part of its Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A) located in North Slope Borough, Alaska. ConocoPhillips previously stated that, for the project to remain economically viable, the federal government would need to approve at least three of the sites. According to the record of decision published by the Bureau of Land Management, the administration is also flatly rejecting the two other drilling sites and associated infrastructure proposed by ConocoPhillips. And the Houston-based company agreed to forfeit about 68,000 acres of drilling rights that it owns for a separate project. The decision noted that the approved option would produce the fewest greenhouse gas emissions compared to all alternatives and the DOI said, by denying two of the drilling sites, it was ‘substantially reducing the size of the project.’” [FOX News, 3/13/23 (-)]

 

AOC, Top Democrats Issue Stinging Rebuke Of Biden Over Failed Climate Promises — “Several top Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., heavily criticized President Joe Biden on Monday after his administration approved a massive oil drilling project in Alaska. The Democrats argued that the decision moving forward with the Willow Project — an oil drilling project forecasted to produce up to 614 million barrels of crude oil over its 30-year lifespan — contradicts Biden’s broader climate agenda. They also indicated that the only acceptable outcome would have been for the president to completely reject the project. ‘The Biden administration has committed to fighting climate change and advancing environmental justice—today’s decision to approve the Willow project fails to live up to those promises,’ Ocasio-Cortez said in a joint statement with Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. ‘Their decision ignores ... the irrefutable science that says we must stop building projects like this to slow the ever more devastating impacts of climate change.’ ‘This administration clearly knows what the path to a cleaner and more just future looks like — we wish they hadn’t chosen to stray so far from that path with today’s Willow decision,’ they continued. ‘The only acceptable Willow project is no Willow project.’” [FOX News, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Biden’s Approval Of Willow Project Shows Inconsistency Of US’s First ‘Climate President’ — “Joe Biden continues to confound on the climate crisis. Hailed as America’s first ‘climate president’, Biden signed sweeping, landmark legislation to tackle global heating last year and has warned that rising temperatures are an ‘existential threat to humanity’. And yet, on Monday, his administration decided to approve one of the largest oil drilling projects staged in the US in decades. The green light given to the Willow development on the remote tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, swatting aside the protests of millions of online petitioners, progressives in Congress and even Al Gore, will have global reverberations. There are more than 600m barrels of oil available to be dislodged by ConocoPhillips over the next 30 years, effectively adding the emissions of the entire country of Belgium, via just one project, to further heat the atmosphere. The scale of Willow is vast, with more than 200 oilwells, several new pipelines, a central processing plant, an airport and a gravel mine set to enable the extraction of oil long beyond the time scientists say that wealthy countries should have kicked the habit, in order to avoid disastrous global heating.” [The Guardian, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

The Biden Administration Just Approved A Huge Oil Project In Alaska — “ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow project was approved by the Biden administration Monday, despite ‘substantial concerns’ about the oil project’s climate and environmental impacts, and despite President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to ban ‘new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.’ The Willow project is expected to extract more than 600 million barrels of oil over the course of its 30-year lifetime — more than any other public-lands fossil fuel development in the United States. The leaders of the community closest to the project, the city and Native Village of Nuiqsut, say the consultation process and mitigation measures are both inadequate. The project, which is located about 30 miles away from Nuiqsut, home to more than 500 people, could cause chemical pollution from spills and leaks, and noise and light pollution from construction, scheduled blasts and air traffic. It would also expand roads and infrastructure, which could infringe on crucial habitat for species that are essential to Indigenous food security. Nuiqsut officials had asked that the decision be delayed until the Bureau of Land Management first engaged with them in a meaningful way to protect residents’ health and subsistence way of life.” [High Country News, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Pragmatism Leaves No Room For Fossil Fuels — “Yet, he seems torn about handling America’s fossil fuel addiction. During his first year in office, the Biden administration approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands than former President Donald Trump did; the following year, the number plummeted. He has just reportedly approved the controversial $8 billion Willow oil-drilling project that’s been on ice across five presidencies. Despite the project’s probable environmental and climate impacts, ConocoPhillips plans to build it on Alaska’s north slope, the country’s single largest area of pristine land. Last month during his State of the Union speech, Biden said, ‘We’re going to need oil for at least another decade…and beyond that.’ An oil industry spokesperson praised him for being ‘pragmatic.’ But ‘pragmatic’ means different things in different contexts. We would appease Uncle Sam by keeping his liquor cabinet full, but it would not be pragmatic regarding his life expectancy. Biden’s recent comments and decisions are politically pragmatic, given the likelihood he will seek another term as president in 2024. They might blunt attacks from the oil and gas industry, which has displayed its muscle by preventing Congress from meaningful climate action for more than 30 years after the U.S. signed the first international climate treaty. On the other hand, environmentalists are not likely to abandon him.” [The Hill, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

Returns From Controversial Alaska Oil Project Could Take Years To Come To Market — “A drilling project was approved by the Biden administration this week in a move that angered environmental groups seeking to protect vast regions of untouched wildlife in Alaska that will now be the site of oil industry operations that is expected to eventually produce 180,000 barrels a day at its peak. Approval of ConocoPhillips’ project is a decadeslong play to expand the United States domestic oil industry that runs counter to President Joe Biden’s previous efforts to get the country to move away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy and electric vehicles. The project could produce more than 600 million barrels of crude oil over the next 30 years and represent about 1.5% of total U.S. oil production. Alaska’s elected leaders from both parties celebrated the decision, which is seen to be an economic boon for the state. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said it could create as many as 2,500 jobs during construction and 300 permanent jobs and generate $8 billion in revenue for the government.” [KEYE-TV, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Enviros Blast Biden Admin. Over ConocoPhillips' Drilling Plan — “The Biden administration authorized ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, despite knowing it would harm Arctic communities, wildlife and the climate, the Sierra Club and five other environmental groups alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Alaska federal court. The U.S. Department of the Interior violated several laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, when on Monday it approved the Willow Master Development Plan, which could significantly affect sensitive arctic habitats, the region’s wildlife, air and water, as well as the people of nearby Nuiqsut, according to the complaint. Along with the Sierra Club, the complaint was filed by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, the Alaska Wilderness League, Environment America, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and the Wilderness Society. The Bureau of Land Management previously authorized the Willow project in January 2021, but the same groups challenged the approval, and an Alaska federal judge in August 2021 vacated the Trump administration’s approvals after determining that the environmental analysis of the project failed to take into account broader greenhouse gas impacts.” [Law360, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Did Biden Have To Approve The Willow Oil Project? — “So, do the administration’s apparent legal concerns stand up to scrutiny? Partly, this decision illustrates the limits of our environmental laws. The goal of those laws is substantive: to protect the environment. But often those laws impose procedural requirements, not substantive bans on harmful activities. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provides a good example. Sure, the Biden administration issued its own supplemental environmental impact statement under NEPA for the Willow project, carefully reviewing the project’s environmental impacts—but nearly all of the attention in that document is spent comparing some versions of the project against other versions, all of which would result in significant oil extraction. The ‘No Action’ alternative—the only one that involves refusing the Willow project entirely—gets very little attention, on the order of a single paragraph. And even if the Biden administration had fully expounded on that ‘no action’ alternative, nothing in NEPA requires that policymakers choose the least damaging option, even in the face of stakes as overwhelming as global climate disruption. As Justice Stevens (writing for the Court) once wrote: ‘NEPA merely prohibits uninformed—rather than unwise—agency action.’ The Willow decision also shows the limits of politics. Yes, ConocoPhillips has existing lease rights that make it complicated, or maybe even impossible, to stop all oil extraction from this site. But the Biden Administration had tools to curtail those rights to limit harms to the environment and to people, and it’s not clear that it used those tools to the greatest degree possible.” [Legal Planet, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Indigenous Groups Lash Out After An Oil Drilling Project Is Approved In Alaska — “FADEL: Thanks for being here. So what was your reaction to the Biden administration’s approval of this oil drilling project? BEGAY: Yeah, thank you for the question. I think just off the bat, really disappointed. I personally am really excited and have been really excited about a lot of the climate commitments and the climate agenda at large and have been an advocate for implementing that and wanting to see that climate agenda succeed and have been working to make sure that that happens. However, this really is counterintuitive to a lot of the work that I am doing and that many others are doing on the ground. FADEL: What are your biggest concerns? BEGAY: Well, I think, you know, the obvious concern is that this really backtracks a lot of the climate commitments made by the Biden administration. FADEL: Now, there are Indigenous groups that support Willow. We spoke to - Nagruk Harcharek is with the group called Voice of the Arctic Inupiat. Here’s what he told us. NAGRUK HARCHAREK: Biden said it. We’re going to need the oil for at least 10 years, is what he mentioned. I think there’s an easy argument that it’s going to be longer than that. Do you get it within the United States where the project’s gone through the most or a lot of environmental scrutiny through the permitting process? Do you outsource that to other countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, where - you know, if it’s not Alaska, we’ve got to get it from somewhere.” [NPR, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

Greens Sue Biden Over Willow Oil Project Approval — “President Joe Biden’s decision to allow ConocoPhillips to build its massive project on federal land in the Alaska wilderness has caused an uproar among environmentalists. Mark Thiessen/AP Photo A coalition of environmental groups on Tuesday filed a quick legal challenge against the the Biden administration’s decision to approve the controversial Willow oil project in Alaska. Biden’s decision to allow ConocoPhillips to build its massive project on federal land in the Alaska wilderness has caused an uproar among environmentalists. They argued in their lawsuit that the approval violated four environmental laws despite the fact that the Bureau of Land Management greenlit a smaller version of the project than ConocoPhillips had sought. ‘Willow would result in the construction and operation of extensive oil and gas and other infrastructure in sensitive arctic habitats and will significantly impact the region’s wildlife, air, water, lands, and people,’ the groups wrote in their lawsuit, which asks the Alaskan court to vacate the Biden administration’s approval of the project. BLM failed to follow requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act to consider alternatives that would lessen the project’s impact on the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, or NPR-A, or to take a required ‘hard look’ at the project’s cumulative impacts, including on climate change, the suit alleges. The groups also charge BLM with failing to consider the project’s impacts on lands used for subsistence by Alaska Natives. And the suit argues the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly consider Willow’s potential impacts on endangered species such as polar bears.” [Politico, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Analysis: Legal Challenges Could Delay Alaska's Willow Oil Project — “The oil industry on Monday cheered the U.S. government’s greenlighting of ConocoPhillips’ multibillion-dollar oil drilling project in Alaska’s Arctic, but court challenges could mire the plans in further delays. President Joe Biden’s administration approved a trimmed-down version of the $7 billion Willow project on federal lands in a pristine area on Alaska’s north coast. Biden has been trying to balance his goal of decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050 as Russia’s war in Ukraine raises worries about global energy security. ConocoPhillips (COP.N) has held the leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska since 1999. Former President Donald Trump’s administration approved the project in 2020. But Alaska District Court Judge Sharon Gleason blocked it a year later arguing its environmental impact analysis was flawed. Now environmental groups are combing through the Biden Interior Department’s approval for flaws that could provide them grounds for new lawsuits. ‘We have some serious questions about whether this decision actually complies with the court’s order from August 2021,’ said Bridget Psarianos, senior staff attorney at Trustees for Alaska. ‘We’ll be looking closely at how (Interior’s) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering alternatives and what its final approvals are.’” [Reuters, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Biden Just Broke A Big Climate Promise — “The same president who passed the nation’s biggest law ever to slash climate pollution may have just undone part of that legacy. The Biden administration gave the green light on Monday to one of the largest-ever oil projects on public lands. The approval clears the way for one of the world’s largest oil companies, ConocoPhillips, to start construction on the Willow project in northern Alaska in a matter of days. According to the Bureau of Land Management’s estimate, the project could produce up to 614 million barrels of oil over the next 30 years. Construction is likely to begin immediately, though it will take years for the oil to start flowing. The approval marks the biggest about-face the president has made on his 2020 campaign pledge that he would be ‘banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.’ The administration tried to cushion the blow for climate activists with other moves. Over the weekend, the Biden administration announced that it would protect 16 million acres from offshore and onshore drilling, while putting forward new regulations for ecologically sensitive areas and animals like the caribou. The Bureau of Land Management, which produced the 120-page record of decision for the approval of the ConocoPhillips project, also slightly shrank the proposal’s initial scope. Ultimately, just three of the five large sections in ConocoPhillips plans can be developed. ConocoPhillips also relinquished 68,000 acres of its existing leases to the federal government.” [Vox, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

Biden Administration Approves Willow Oil-Drilling Project In Alaskan Arctic — “The Biden administration approved the massive Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of environmentalists and many Democrats who wanted the project scuttled. The green light means Houston-based ConocoPhillips can start construction on its roughly $7 billion project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, which the company expects will produce about 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak—equivalent to about 40% of Alaska’s current crude production. The Interior Department said it would allow drilling on three of the five drill sites proposed by ConocoPhillips, which announced the Willow discovery in 2017. The discovery pitted environmental groups denouncing the project as a carbon bomb that would hamper President Biden’s campaign goals to phase out fossil fuels against supporters who argued that the project would generate jobs and revenue for Alaska. Opposition to the project resulted in years of litigation and thousands of pages of environmental analysis by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management. The Alaska delegation praised the White House’s decision. ‘After years of relentless advocacy, we are now on the cusp of creating thousands of new jobs, generating billions of dollars in new revenues, improving quality of life on the North Slope and across our state,’ said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/13/23 (=)]

 

Editorial: Biden Says Yes To The Willow Oil Project — “Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, President Biden on Monday approved the Willow oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope. The decision should have been easy after it passed every review known to the federal government. The project is projected to yield as much as 180,000 barrels of oil a day and will provide much-needed domestic oil production. The White House leaked the decision late Friday, and the climate lobby erupted in anger and tried to change it. Earthjustice said it ‘greenlights a carbon bomb,’ Al Gore piped up, and the climate left talked ominously about a presidential primary challenge. To calm the hysterics, the Administration leaked over the weekend that it will also put much of the rest of Alaska off limits to any drilling, creating a ‘firewall’ against future production. Firewall? The Willow project takes up 0.002% of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and is expected to bring 2,500 new jobs in the state. The plan has broad political support in Alaska, including the state’s indigenous leaders and Alaska’s bipartisan Congressional delegation. The Biden Administration remains hostile to nearly all domestic fossil-fuel production, and political realism says Willow is the exception that proves that rule. The White House knows a primary challenge from the left is unlikely, and its bigger concern is the opening for a GOP challenger if there is a surge in oil prices after Mr. Biden has sat on all drilling in the U.S.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/13/23 (-)]

 

Haaland Reverses Trump-Era Izembek Road Decision — “Interior Secretary Deb Haaland late Tuesday revoked a Trump-era land swap that would have paved the way for a road to be built through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Instead, Haaland said the Interior Department will initiate a new environmental analysis to determine if a land exchange and potential gravel road comply with federal laws and regulations. The Interior Department said it was doing so in large part because the 2019 land exchange orchestrated by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was done ‘without public participation.’ It also failed to analyze the potential effects of building a single-lane gravel road, about 10 miles long, on those who use the environmentally sensitive region for subsistence fishing and hunting, the department said. The Izembek refuge provides important habitat for migratory birds like the emperor goose and black brant. Bernhardt agreed to the land exchange with King Cove Corp. that involves swapping about 500 acres inside the Izembek refuge for roughly 5,000 acres of shoreline that would be added to the refuge. Bernhardt said he was responding to pleas from Alaska Natives who say the road is needed to allow the residents of King Cove access to an all-weather airport in nearby Cold Bay, where those with medical emergencies can be transported to hospitals hundreds of miles away.” [E&E News, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Haaland Yanks Trump-Era Izembek Road Land Swap — “Details: Haaland wrote in her withdrawal order that she has ‘significant policy concerns regarding the manner in which the 2019 Land Exchange was accomplished, as well as the terms of that exchange.’ The Trump-era swap didn’t consider its effects on subsistence use and did not prohibit commercial traffic from using the road, Haaland wrote in her withdrawal order. She also concluded a new environmental review should have been undertaken rather than relying on the one the Obama administration used in 2013 to reject the road. Haaland also raised concerns about effects on endangered species. And the swap occurred without going through a public notice-and-comment process, which Haaland described as ‘a procedural defect that runs counter to my strong belief that important decisions must be made with transparency.’ Haaland sought to head off complaints from the road’s proponents — including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — that the road is a medical necessity for the King Cove community, calling the tradeoff between protecting human life and the environment a ‘false dichotomy.’ ‘I reject that binary choice,’ Haaland said in a statement. ‘I am a lifelong conservationist, and I believe deeply in the need to protect our lands and waters and honor our obligations to Tribal Nations.’ Murkowski could not be immediately reached for comment.” [Politico, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

AP | Haaland Wades Into Thorny Land Exchange Fight In Alaska — “A day after the Biden administration approved a major Alaska oil project, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland waded into another thorny battle in the state — a long-simmering dispute over building a road through a national wildlife refuge to provide health care access for a remote, and largely Indigenous, community. Building the road would involve a contentious land exchange, and after Haaland visited King Cove a year ago, she told reporters she was ‘in a learning process’ regarding the issue. On Tuesday, she withdrew a 2019 agreement finalized during the Trump administration that has been the subject of ongoing litigation, citing a lack of public participation and environmental review. She also expressed concerns about impacts on subsistence uses and wildlife. ‘I believe deeply in the need to protect our lands and waters and honor our obligations to Tribal Nations. Respecting Tribal sovereignty means ensuring that we are listening – really listening – to Tribal communities,’ Haaland said in a statement, saying she is a ‘lifelong conservationist.’ She said she has instructed her team to begin a process to review prior land exchange proposals, with consultation, conservation and subsistence goals in mind.” [WRAL-TV, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Biden Voids Trump-Era Deal To Open Alaskan Wildlife Area — “The Biden administration said Tuesday that it was withdrawing a land swap deal that would have helped to clear the way for construction of a road through a wildlife refuge in Alaska. The move is a reversal of the government’s position and one that could put an end to a project that would cut through the vast wild area, originally protected under President Jimmy Carter. The land swap to create a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge was approved under the Trump administration to link King Cove with an airport in nearby Cold Bay. Deb Haaland, the secretary of the Interior Department, said the agency would reconsider an older land swap developed in 2013 that would allow for a road with more restricted use but would still enable Native and other community members in the remote area to access emergency medical care. While the decision leaves the door open to building a road, the move is a significant victory for environmental groups at a time when activists are fuming over the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow project, a vast oil drilling plan in Alaska’s North Slope.” [The New York Times, 3/14/23 (+)]

 

Biden Undoes Trump-Era Land Deal In Alaska’s Izembek Refuge, A Jimmy Carter Priority — “The Biden administration said Tuesday that it is withdrawing a land-swap deal that would have allowed a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a vast wild area in Alaska originally protected under President Jimmy Carter. The move helps preserve the sweeping environmental legacy of Carter, who entered home hospice care last month at 98 and has made the issue a top priority in his final days. But it stops short of the complete rejection of a road sought by some environmentalists and Carter himself. And it comes one day after climate activists criticized President Biden for approving a massive oil drilling project in Alaska, saying the approval of ConocoPhillips’s Willow project would undermine the president’s own legacy on environmental protection. A road through the Izembek refuge was originally approved under President Donald Trump in a deal with Alaskan officials, who have made it a priority to connect a remote town of 925 people with the rest of the state. But environmentalists have advocated against it to avoid fragmenting a pristine stretch of tundra and lagoons otherwise off-limits to motorized traffic. They have found a powerful ally in Carter, who has devoted more than four decades to the issue.” [The Washington Post, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Interior Secretary Withdraws Land Exchange But Signals Support For Road Through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge — “Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday signaled her support for a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that has been at the center of a decades-long battle between the largely Indigenous people of King Cove, who say it will provide lifesaving access to a Cold Bay runway, and environmental groups who say a road will harm the refuge. But at the same time, Haaland announced the agency is withdrawing a land exchange authorized in 2019 by the Interior Department under former President Donald Trump, between the department and King Cove Corp. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided in November with environmental groups against the swap, and Haaland said that rather than continue the legal battle, she would launch a review process to consider different options for a land swap that would be needed to construct a road between the two communities. Haaland visited King Cove, a community with less than 1,000 residents, nearly a year ago to meet with those who are advocating for a road to access Cold Bay’s World War II-era jet runway, where lifesaving medical flights can land and take off. Conservation groups who oppose the road have argued that it would support commercial interests and harm migrating waterfowl and other wildlife that depend on the 310,000-acre refuge near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula.” [Anchorage Daily News, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Interior Secretary Rejects Izembek Refuge Land Exchange But Commits To New Process To Get A Road For King Cove — “Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday ended the government’s defense of a land exchange agreement that would have allowed the Alaska Peninsula community of King Cove to build a road to reach an all-weather airport. But she she also pledged to launch a new process to get a road for King Cove. ‘I have instructed my team to immediately launch a process to review previous proposals for a land exchange,’ Haaland said in an emailed statement. Haaland’s action – essentially conceding in a lawsuit that aims to block the road – starts yet another phase in the decades-long effort by the people of King Cove to get a road to Cold Bay, which they say will save lives by allowing people to fly to a hospital even when the weather is bad. Road proponents are hopeful that Haaland is sincere about trying to help. ‘We have to believe that she is,’ said King Cove Corp. CEO Della Trumble, who has lobbied for the road for decades. ‘We agreed to work with her on it.’ Trumble said that Haaland spoke to local leaders Tuesday with emotion in her voice. It’s personal for Haaland. She is the first Indigenous secretary of the Interior, and the people of King Cove are primarily Indigenous, too.” [Alaska Public Media, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

US Interior Dept Withdraws Land Exchange Around Alaska Refuge — “U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday withdrew a land exchange around a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, reversing a 2019 move by the administration of former President Donald Trump, the Interior Department said. The Trump administration plan had sought to carve a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.” [Reuters, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Biden Administration Withdraws Approval For Road Through Alaskan Refuge After Previously Defending It In Court — “Interior Secretary Haaland speaks during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the budget, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) The Biden administration on Tuesday announced its withdrawal of a Trump-era land swap in southwestern Alaska that it once defended in court, a day after its approval of an Alaskan oil project sparked outrage from environmentalists. In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said she has withdrawn the 2019 land exchange between the federal government and the King Cove Corporation, which would have allowed the corporation to construct a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The Biden Justice Department previously defended the exchange in court in March 2021, shortly before Haaland’s confirmation, continuing the Trump administration’s appeal of a 2020 decision rejecting the exchange. The following May, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the swap, which advocates have said is necessary to connect the community to medical resources. Other proponents included Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), the only Republican on the Senate Energy Committee to back Haaland’s confirmation.” [The Hill, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Georgia

 

Supporters Of Mine Near Okefenokee Hint At Lawsuit If Georgia Lawmakers Pass Bill Protecting Swamp — “Supporters of a plan to mine Trail Ridge near the Okefenokee Swamp say the local community sorely needs the economic boost. Defenders of the swamp argue it isn’t worth the risk. The two sides battling in the nearly four-year saga over whether an Alabama company should be allowed to move forward with its plans to mine the site for titanium dioxide and zirconium were allowed to make their case to lawmakers during a two-hour public hearing held Tuesday. The hearing was on a bill sponsored by Thomasville Republican Rep. Darlene Taylor that would block future mining proposals at Trail Ridge near the largest blackwater swamp in North America. But the focus turned often to Twin Pines Minerals’ pending permit application, with a company representative saying Taylor’s bill would stop the company from expanding or modifying the permit later. The state Environmental Protection Division is accepting public comment on a key part of the proposal through next Monday. The demonstration mining project would take place along 580 acres that is located nearly three miles from the edge of the refuge. ‘Any blanket prohibition of mining on Trail Ridge like those contained in HB 71 is a policy question left to the General Assembly,’ EPD Director Rick Dunn said to lawmakers Tuesday.” [Georgia Recorder, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Bill To Halt Mining Near Okefenokee Gets Hearing But No Vote — “A proposal to ban future mining near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge received a hearing Tuesday before a panel of Georgia lawmakers, who asked no questions of testifying experts and advocates before adjourning without a vote. Republican Rep. Darlene Taylor of Thomasville has persuaded a bipartisan group of 90 fellow lawyers to co-sponsor House Bill 71, which would prohibit the state from granting mining permits along Trail Ridge on the swamp’s eastern boundary. The proposed ban languished for most of the legislative session and missed the deadline last week for bills to pass the House or Senate and still be eligible for a vote by the other chamber. Regardless, it wouldn’t stop the mining application Twin Pines minerals currently has before Georgia regulators to mine titanium less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.” [U.S. News & World Report, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

Montana

 

BLM Schedules Oil And Gas Lease Sale Under New Rules — “The Bureau of Land Management published the locations for public comment this month through April 10. This is the region’s first lease sale under the laws created by the Inflation Reduction Act. There will be no noncompetitive leases, the kind that go off at bargain-basement prices after failing to attract bidders. Noncompetitive leases often yield no production and are common in Montana where federal leases don’t attract much interest. New minimum bids of $10 an acre are required, up from the old $2 per acre, an amount set in 1987. BLM is also increasing royalty rates to 16.67%, identical to the Montana rate. The previous federal royalty rate was 12.5%. Rental rates are also increasing to $3 an acre for the first two years, $5 for the next eight and $15 for years nine and 10. Again, the rates are up substantially from the $1.50 per-acre rate previously charged for a well’s first five years and $2 per acre thereafter. Montana isn’t a big oil producing state. It ranked a distant 11th nationally for crude oil production in 2021 with about 18.9 million barrels that year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The nation’s biggest producer, Texas, turned out 1.7 billion barrels in 2021, North Dakota 405.1 million. Low production means federal lease sales in Montana rarely attract more than a handful of bidders.” [Billings Gazette, 3/14/23 (=)]

 

 

 

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