Six environmental groups announced on Tuesday that they are suing the US government after it approved the large Willow oil project in northwestern Alaska the day before.
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President Joe Biden’s administration approved the project “while recognizing and not mitigating the harm to Arctic people, public health, wildlife and the climate,” according to a statement released by one of the six associations, the Sierra Club, communicated.
The complaint is against the Department of the Interior, which has jurisdiction over states in the United States, as well as several government agencies. In particular, she accuses them of not having “considered alternatives” to better mitigate the harmful effects of the project.
The operation will be located in an area called the National Petroleum Reserve, land owned by the US state on which oil giant ConocoPhillips has concessions.
The project was scaled back after an analysis of its environmental impact by the Biden administration: It was reduced to three drill areas compared to the five originally requested by the company, the Interior Department argued Monday. .
But according to the Interior Ministry’s own calculations, it will still lead to indirect emissions equivalent to 239 million tons of CO2 over its 30-year service life.
According to the plaintiff associations, the project “still violates the same laws” as it did in 2021, when they had the project initially approved by Donald Trump’s government temporarily stopped by a judge and referred to a new government review.
Environmental activists are banking on a decision in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, who came to power on a promise not to allow new oil and gas drilling on federal land.
In view of the approval granted despite everything, they accused him of having breached his obligations.
But the economic stakes are enormous. Proponents of the Willow project argue that it will be an important source of jobs and a contribution to energy independence in the still heavily oil-dependent United States.
“We stand ready to defend this decision against likely and frivolous lawsuits,” Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan said Monday shortly after the approval was announced.