Willow Project is a step backward

The refusal of our elected officials to fully address the climate crisis is mind-boggling when the evidence of the destruction it is causing is all around us.

We know the burning of fossil fuels is a chief contributor to the devastating consequences of climate-induced extreme weather events, droughts, coastal erosion, species extinctions, soil depletion and much more.

Although it is challenging to change our energy appetite away from fossil fuels, gradually it is happening. The Inflation Reduction Act provides plenty of incentives to make the transition easier but more legislative action is needed — and it must be bipartisan because all of us share this planet, regardless of political affiliation.

Yet, in spite of public pressure from thousands of environmental supporters who told the Biden administration not to allow the largest ever proposed oil and gas undertaking on U.S. public land, the administration didn’t listen. Instead, it announced it will move forward with the Willow Project, even though new drilling undercuts the administration’s own climate goals and will accelerate the climate crisis and scar public lands.

Conocophillips’ plan includes hundreds of miles of pipelines, dozens of roads, an airstrip and a gravel mine, all on public lands. It could devastate imperiled wildlife such as polar bears, migratory birds and caribou. It could also jeopardize the health and traditional practices of nearby Alaska Native communities.

The Trump-era permits for the project did not consider the Willow Project’s global climate impact, and a lawsuit forced the Biden administration to review them again before proceeding. The administration chose to move backwards in time instead of toward a clean-energy future.

The science is clear: we can’t afford any new oil and gas projects if we’re going to avoid worsening climate catastrophe. The administration’s failure to assess the project’s full climate impact will have devastating consequences.

Already, lawsuits are looming. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council are two major environmental organizations that are suing the Biden administration to stop the Willow Project. More will likely follow.

If Americans want a sustainable energy future that slows or reverses climate change, they must keep up the pressure on the administration to reverse its approval for the project by contacting their members of Congress and telling them they want this project stopped. Rita Ransom