One of current US President Joe Biden’s campaign promises was not to allow new oil and gas drilling projects on federal lands. Given that Joe Biden acknowledges the « existential threat » what global warming represents, and taken many measures in favor of the development of renewable energiesauthorizing this oil exploitation would be seen by many as a betrayal.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said Friday, March 11 that the Interior Department’s decision would be ” imminent “. So environmental groups have increased the pressure this week against the Willow project: it could become the largest oil exploitation project in the United States, with an expected production of 600 million barrels of crude over a period of 30 years.
280 million tons of carbon emissions
Willow would be located inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 23 million acre (93 million hectare) area on the state’s North Slope that is the largest tract of undisturbed public land. in the USA.
We are talking about the burning of oil which could release nearly 280 million tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. That means 9.2 million tons of carbon pollution per year. It’s as if, every year, for 30 years, nearly two million cars were added to the roads.
Alaska has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the United States
The defenders of the project see it as a source of jobs, which contributes to the energy independence of the United States. For some, the project is an inevitable step in a period of transition to other energy sources.
For environmental associations, it’s a real ” carbon bomb “: they find it incomprehensible that a president who wants to fight against climate change can approve the Willow project.
Especially since Alaska has warmed more than twice as fast than the rest of the United States in 60 years and temperatures are expected to continue to rise an average of 4° Fahrenheit (or about 3°C) over the next 30 years, which will accelerate the thawing of the frozen Arctic tundra around the ice shelves. drilling forms.
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