How Will the Willow Project Affect the Environment?
Contrary to President Biden’s promise to end new oil drillings on federal land as well as predictions for its disastrous impacts on the environment, March 13, 2023 marks the date on which America’s largest current oil project was approved. The Willow Project, an ambitious, dangerous, and encumbering plan to drill into Alaska’s North Slope projects to produce about 180,000 barrels of oil per day over the span of 30 years – decades after scientists urge a fading out of the burning of fossil fuels. The consequences of this project created by ConocoPhillips will be massively destructive to both the climate crisis and the life occupying in the area.
The oil project aims to put into the market is estimated to generate a tremendous 260-277 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. EarthJustice member Erik Grafe notes that this is roughly equivalent to “putting 56 million cars on the road for a year or 69 coal-fired power plants for one year.” In a time where America desperately needs a change in their habits regarding fossil fuels, and greenhouse gasses, the approval of the Willow Project is a questionable decision at the very least.
Carbon aside, the project itself is set to operate on 23 million acres of environmentally vital land. The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is home to harmonious, delicate ecosystems, migrating birds, and endangered species. This project will go down in history as yet another destruction of wildlife. Also in the area are multiple native villages, specifically the Nuiqsut, who reside closest to the drilling, are outwardly advocating for the project’s termination. They have watched as their traditional lands transform into an industrialized, for-profit land. Many families have fled the area in fear of health risks such as gas leaks; gas leaks such as the recent leakage of methane in the area as a result of ConocoPhillips’ existing Alpine Field drilling site. The Nuiqsut, describing themselves as being at “ground zero for the industrialization of the Arctic.” have expressed reasonable concerns for their own health and the surrounding wildlife.
From the unimaginable amounts of fossil fuels and carbon that will inevitably arise from this project to its damage to local homes, the Willow Project will certainly bring further ruin to our shared planet. The time we have to turn the tides in the battle against climate change is rapidly dwindling. Every new initiative like the Willow Project only makes our fight all the more difficult.
In this frustrating and seemingly doomed situation, there is still hope for change. Find out more about how you can help here.
Works Cited
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www.americanprogress.org/article/4-reasons-the-willow-oil-project-is-unfit-for-approval/.
Singleton, Hannah. “What to Know about the Just-Approved $8B Willow Project’s Potential
Impact on the Planet.” Well+Good, 16 Mar. 2023,
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