FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK — The White House has given the green light to a major $8 billion oil drilling project in Alaska, as called for by state lawmakers and oil companies, but at odds with the hopes of climate activists and young voters who see deviation from promises to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. If in the past courts and Congress have prevented Biden from fulfilling his promise not to authorize further drilling on federal land, the approval of multinational ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project is instead a White House decision.
The President approved a smaller project than the company’s application within the National Petroleum Reserve (state in a still pristine area of far northern Alaska): three oil well sites instead of five. The operation could produce between 576 million and 614 million barrels of oil over the next 30 years, releasing about 280 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent into the atmosphere, in an area where one of the most consistent accelerations is global warming. The New York Times estimates that almost two million cars take to the streets every year. The United States, the second largest emitter after China, produces about 5.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. The project is expected to create 2,500 new jobs and has support from a majority of Alaska Native groups, including their first congresswoman, Mary Peltola. But the local communities closest to the project have tried to push back.
The decision is the result of a search for a compromise between climate goals and the instability of energy markets related to the war in Ukraine. To allay climate fears, Biden will declare the Arctic Ocean “off-limits” to the oil and gas industry, as well as 13 of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve, whose wildlife includes caribou and migratory birds.
Through a series of moves including an increased focus on balanced budgets, positions on immigration (including the possibility of restoring detention for families of illegal immigrants on the border with Mexico), and crime, Biden is attempting to reclaim a firmly centrist identity. in view of the probable candidacy for the second term.