A federal judge has reversed the Trump administration’s environmental approval for ConocoPhillips’ $6 billion proposed Willow development on Alaska’s North Slope, citing problems with its environmental analysis, according to court documents.
Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, in a 110-page ruling on two related lawsuits Wednesday said the Trump administration’s approval of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act was flawed because “it failed to thoroughly analyze potential greenhouse gas pollution, and didn’t sufficiently consider legal protections for Teshekpuk Lake, an important subsistence area on the North Slope.”
Gleason also singled out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying they did not outline specific measures to mitigate the project’s impact on polar bears.
According to CTV News Canada, the Trump administration approved the project in October 2020, and on August 4, 2021, the Biden administration submitted a brief defending his decision to allow companies drilling or searching for oil for the next five years in the Western Arctic, Beaufort Sea, that included the Willow Project.
Rebecca Boys, a ConocoPhillips’ spokesperson, said the company would review Gleason’s decision “and evaluate the options available regarding this project.”
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said the order was a blow to his state because the project would have created thousands of jobs. “This is a horrible decision,” he said in a statement, reports Reuters. “We are giving America over to our enemies piece by piece.”
Anchorage Republican state Senator Josh Revak, in a prepared statement, said the decision “should be deeply concerning to every Alaskan.”
Alaska Public Media is reporting this court ruling has gone the way of other potential oil projects that have been stopped in their tracks.
The Biden administration has halted development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a state government-sponsored LNG pipeline has stalled and another major project on the North Slope, Pikka, is in limbo amid the acquisition of its owner.
Willow, if built, could produce 160,000 barrels of oil a day, or roughly a third of the state’s current total production, and a total of 600 million barrels over three decades. It would include five drill sites, an oil processing center, 37 miles of gravel roads, seven bridges, 100 miles of new pipelines, and a freshwater reservoir.
