The Willow Project: Government Judge Decides In Favor

Willow Project

While challenges against the venture are ongoing, an Alaskan state judge has refused to halt the contentious Willow oil and gas drilling project. The enormous Willow oil and gas drilling venture by ConocoPhillips on the North Slope of Alaska was approved by the Biden presidency last month.  

The enormous Willow Project of oil and gas drilling by ConocoPhillips on Alaska’s North Slope was approved by the Biden presidency last month. Before the Biden government approved the project, there was a surge of online objection to it that included over 1 million emails to the government denouncing the idea and a Petition on change.org with above 5 million responses. 

An environmental advocacy group of Earthjustice along with the legal firm for Alaska, Trustees, decided to file the grievances against the Department Of interior and its highest leaders, the Wildlife and Fishery Service of the US, the Land Management Bureau, and other departments not long after the Biden government gave the project its approval. The petitions requested that the production would have been stopped if the judge had granted a temporary restraining order on the venture while the court evaluated the lawsuits.

What Is The Willow Project About?

FILE – An oil exploration camp is shown in this 2019 drone image produced by ConocoPhillips near the proposed location of this infamous Willow Project on the North Slope of Alaska. The Biden government is debating whether to approve a large oil venture on the North Slope of Alaska which is highly rich in petroleum, which supporters claim will provide a financial lifeline for the region’s Indigenous communities living. However, environmentalists who have filed the petition, voting against the Willow Project, draw from the fact that the project violates and endangers the environment including the disappearing species of polar bears who live in the area of the proposed Willow Project.

The federal judge, however, voted for the project, allowing the necessary construction procedures to continue along with the progression of the case.