Biden administration to approve major Alaska oil drilling project Willow

[toesonthenose]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: CNN

The Biden administration is soon set to approve ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, a major oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, according to a congressional source familiar with the details. The decision will be announced next week, the source confirmed.

The expected approval is a victory for Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation and a coalition of Alaska Native tribes and groups who hailed the drilling venture as a much-needed new source of revenue and jobs for the remote region. It is a major blow to climate groups and Alaska Natives who oppose Willow, arguing the project will hurt the president’s ambitious climate goals and pose health and environmental risks.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back Friday, saying no final decision on the project had been made, and that the US Department of the Interior would make an “independent decision on the Willow Project.”

“No final decisions have been made – anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong,” Jean-Pierre said. “President Biden is delivering on the most aggressive climate agenda of any US president in history and spurring an unprecedented expansion of clean energy.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/10/politics/alaska-oil-willow-drilling-project-white-house/index.html

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I understand the sensitivity around this issue, and I appreciate the unfortunate dependence we still have on fossil fuels. But I hope the administration has some immense last second pushback to make them reconsider approving the 3 sites. Approve 1, you can say you approved it, and ConocoPhillips will not proceed (hopefully).

[Botany]

1. Leave the shit in the ground! It is killing the supportive capacity of the planet. Because when ..

... you burn it you get CO2, SO2, and other crap that cause global warming and aid rain.

We have other means to make energy. Besides that shit that just spilled and then was allowed to burn off
(spreading the toxins) along the PA/OH border was a vinyl chloride which is a petrochemical.

[Traildogbob]

2. Guess he is working "across the aisle."

To have leverage with Republican Manchin on other issues.

[paleotn]

4. Political and physical realities.

We're not getting rid of petrol any time soon. Or we could just stop pumping, crash the global economy and hope for the best. That's a bit of a strawman, but still.

[Traildogbob]

6. You are sadly 100 percent correct.

There will never be enough time to switch before the destruction that will devastate the planet. Oil is the Crack, Coke, Morphine and at this point the fentanyl we are addicted to. And like that last one, will kill us all.
And with the Bang Bang Boebert level of science education out there, “Climate change happens 4 times a year”, we will never save ourselves.

[paleotn]

3. Granted, but.....

Do you realize how much of your world is the product of petrochemicals? Most don't have a clue. Your EV may not run on gas, but it's loaded to the freaking gills with things derived from petrochemicals. Same with the computing device you're using. The furniture you're sitting one. The clothes you're wearing. The TV you're watching. Much of the cost of the lunch you just ate. Wise use, not a return to the 18th century, thank you very much. Those long, carbon molecules are extremely useful in so many things, from plastics to medicine. Burning them as fuels is kind of a waste really.

[Bayard]

5. I would be very disappointed if this happened

[JudyM]

7. Locking

This is anticipatory, not an announcement of a final decision, so does not meet LBN’s “important news” SOP. Would be okay to repost in General Discussion.