The Willow Project in Alaska will be the largest oil project in the U.S. if the Bureau of Land Management allows it to continue. Situated on federally protected land, ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion project would produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on June 13 that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the Willow Project. The decision reversed a prior ruling by the Alaska District Court that allowed the Willow Project to continue. It is also the second legal victory for the environmental groups challenging the project. The BLM now has to reconsider its approval of the Willow Project.
“Today’s decision concludes that the Bureau of Land Management violated one of our bedrock environmental laws when it approved Willow. “BLM now needs to take seriously its obligation to reconsider its approval of Willow and consider less harmful alternatives to the massive oil project,” said Erik Grafe, Deputy Managing Attorney in Earthjustice’s Alaska regional office, in a statement.
An Oil Project In Alaska’s Rocky Mountains
ConocoPhillips estimates that the Willow Project will bring in new revenue of $8 billion to $17 billion for the federal government, Alaska, and local communities. The project sits on the North Slope of the Brooks Range, the farthest northern extension of the Rocky Mountains. It lies within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre tract of the nation’s largest region of undeveloped public land.
There are Alaska Native villages, caribou, 80 to 90 bird species, and polar and grizzly bears. The area has directives from Congress to protect fish and wildlife habitats for Teshekpuk Lake, the Utukok River area, and other areas designated by the Secretary of the Interior.
The projected impacts of the project include:
- Loss of 532 acres of wetlands
- Disturbances of 619 acres of polar bear habitat and 17,037 acres of bird habitat
- Release 9.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, or the equivalent of the pollution from two million new gas-powered cars for 30 years
Climate Change Already Affects the North Slope Borough
Alaska’s average temperatures have increased twice as quickly as the contiguous U.S. During the last 60 years, the average annual temperature has risen by around 3 degrees F. During the winter, average seasonal temperatures increased by 6 degrees F. By 2050, the average annual temperature across the state will increase by an estimated 2 to 4 degrees F.
The North Slope Borough already experiences the impact of climate change. Adding the Willow Project is akin to throwing a match on a pile of fireworks. Melting sea ice and coastal erosion are the most significant threats to the North Slope Borough as temperatures warm. Permafrost covers more than 80 percent of Alaska. However, that amount continues to shrink as temperatures rise and the permafrost melts. Melting permafrost causes the ground above to collapse, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas with a warming potential 80 times that of carbon.
Rising temperatures melt sea ice along Alaska’s coasts. Models project that the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer by 2030. Loss of sea ice in the North Slope Borough would harm ecosystems. The loss of sea ice will increase wind and water erosion. Ice-free summers will affect coastal villages as erosion threatens the houses. Residents may have to move inland. Over 30 villages in the area have been identified for relocation.
The Iñupiat are native to Alaska, comprising the majority of the population in the North Slope Borough. Many depend on a subsistence diet, which makes them more vulnerable to changes in the ecosystems around them. Whale and seals are the majority of the protein that the Iñupiat eat. Since both are caught on the sea ice, loss of the ice will require the Iñupiat to go out on thin ice to see them.
The Willow Project is a near-term threat to the Iñupiat and other native Alaskan communities, and an opportunity to follow the guidelines laid down in NEPA and turn away from unjust and unsustainable energy development.
Image by Bureau of Land Management on Flickr
