Biden Admin Decision On Alaska Oil Project Could Come This Week

Ryan Lance, CEO of oil producer ConocoPhilips, has told reporters he expects a Biden Administration decision on the Alaskan Arctic oil "Willow project" to come this week.

• Reuters: "The Willow project is a [USD]$6 billion project... 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 area holds an estimated 600 million barrels of oil."
• The project, initially greenlit by the Trump Administration, was stalled by an Alaskan federal judge in 2021 due to environmental concerns.
• National environmental group the Sierra Club said in a February: "The Willow project would have a devastating effect on public lands and our climate, and approving it after passing the largest climate bill in history would be a giant step in reverse," referring to the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Alaskan Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AL), who urged the Biden Administration to approve the project at the CERAWeek energy conference yesterday, said earlier this month: “...certain congressmen are claiming Alaskans and Alaska Natives don’t want the Willow project... that’s not correct.”