Washington, D.C. – Today the Bureau of Land Management released the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for ConocoPhillips’ proposed Willow project to drill for oil in the Western Arctic. The document shows that the Bureau is moving towards formal approval of the project. In response, Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president of Energy and Environment at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
This project is a climate disaster in waiting. When approved, it will define the country’s energy future for the next 30-plus years while having no impact on the pain that Americans are currently feeling at the pump. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling struck a blow to the United States’ ability to meet our climate goals, and today’s decision from the Department of the Interior continues this dangerous trend.
This project comes at a defining point in President Biden’s administration. Now is not the time to roll over and give the fossil fuel industry its wish list. ConocoPhillips can afford to wait. We cannot afford to get this decision wrong.
The Biden administration should just throw this all-too-limited environmental review in the trash and start over. Nothing short of a full environmental review is appropriate for a project of this magnitude in such a sensitive and remote location.
For more information, or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected]