In an effort to be all things to all people, President Joe Biden is overseeing the granting of oil leases in Alaska while simultaneously blocking exploration on almost 16 million acres of land and water. This tightrope walk to pacify both the environmentalists and those who seek US energy independence is one the president has already imperiled through his lofty promises.
The Willow Project
To the surprise of many, the Department of the Interior (DOI) recently put its seal of approval on an $8 billion project that will see three of five drill sites open up to crude oil producer ConocoPhillips. The Willow Project was initially begun under former President Donald Trump but faced stiff legal challenges on environmental grounds. Now, it appears the Biden administration is reviving the drilling plan.
By denying two of the sites, the DOI attempted to claim a climate victory, writing, "The Record of Decision denies two of the five drill site pads proposed by ConocoPhillips, reducing the project’s drill pads by 40 percent." The statement continues:
"This reduces the project’s freshwater use and eliminates all infrastructure related to the two rejected drill sites, including approximately 11 miles of roads, 20 miles of pipelines, and 133 acres of gravel, all of which reduces potential impacts to caribou migration and subsistence users."
All good climate-crusading language. Of course, the DOI did not have to allow any of the drill sites to begin operations. The move prompted a number of environmental groups to lash out at the president personally. "This MUST not be the case @POTUS. The Willow project is a climate disaster waiting to happen that would devastate wildlife, lands, AK communities, and our climate," the Sierra Club wrote in response to the decision. "We need to speed our transition to clean energy, not double-down on oil and gas."
(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Alaska Or Bust?
On the other side of the equation is a plan announced Sunday, March 12, to ban oil exploration permanently on up to 16 million acres of Alaskan territory. This includes nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean, which Biden says is “indefinitely off limits,” as well as 13 million acres of “ecologically sensitive” zones designated “Special Areas.”
And yet zoning these swaths of land has not mollified critics who accuse the president of breaking his word on ecological issues. “It’s insulting that Biden thinks this will change our minds about the Willow project,” said Kristen Monsell, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Protecting one area of the Arctic so you can destroy another doesn’t make sense, and it won’t help the people and wildlife who will be upended,” she added.
No More Oil
President Biden campaigned and has until now governed under the image of an old-school climate activist. “No new leases,” he insisted to the debate audiences. "I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you, I guarantee you we're going to end fossil fuels," he said in New Castle, NH. And yet political and economic reality appears to have hit home. With the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a near-historic low (while stocks are still being exported to Europe and Asia), the administration is in a panic over controlling domestic prices. The Willow Project offers a small but economically significant lifeline.
As Paul wrote in Corinthians, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” Not to say that Biden in any way, shape or form resembles the Apostle Paul, but the president is certainly attempting to pull off a similar feat in satisfying the demands of both sides. Unlike Paul, it appears not to be the “some” that Biden’s discordant decisions are designed to protect. Rather, the president has just a single lost soul “top of mind” and the environment, the voters, and even the media that lauded him so passionately must all fall before that goal.
