The Willow Project is a proposed development project in Northern Alaska by ConocoPhillips, a company that has been surrounded by controversy for continued oil drilling, exploitation of nature, and posing risks to indigenous communities globally. This project was proposed during the Trump administration, but has yet to be approved by the Biden administration. Despite Biden promising to turn away from non-renewable energy sources such as oil, he is still defending this project. 

If this project were to be approved, Willow would emit more climate pollution annually than more than 99.7% of all single point sources in the country. The first oil to be used from this project wouldn't be for years. We do not have much time, but it's still enough to defend the Arctic ecosystems that are already facing global warming.  

ConocoPhillips, the company that has proposed this project, claims that Willow would help address inflation and energy costs. The United States is already the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, despite the oil and gas industry’s vigorous and incorrect public relations campaigns aimed at convincing people that their opportunism to drill more is a legitimate policy solution. Even if the Willow project was approved, it would do nothing to address inflation or high energy costs. It would take years before Willow produced a single drop of oil, and the project would lock us into decades of fossil fuel development at a time when we need to be rapidly transitioning to clean energy sources.

This project would disproportionately affect the Native Village of Nuiqsut, a predominantly Iñupiat village of around 400 people already surrounded by oil development. Their population faces disproportionately high rates of chronic illnesses like cancer and respiratory ailments due to the high amounts of pollution they're exposed to. Willow would also negatively impact the migration routes of the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, one of the primary sources of subsistence foods for the village. 

While the majority of Iñupiat are in support of this project, there are still many Iñupiat and Arctic Indigenous people that recognize this is the time for a Just Transition away from fossil fuels. It's time that we think for a safe and livable environment for future generations and lay the first steps to renewable energy. 

We are at the brink of irreversible damage to the earth that will cause losses of jobs and homes, illnesses, and displacement of entire communities at rates we have never seen. Recent studies have shown that the Arctic is warming at four to five times faster than the rest of the world. As oil is exported and sent around the globe, Indigenous communities in the Arctic are left to contend with the health impacts of pollution as well as the devastation that comes from dramatic changes to the land like sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, and coastal erosion.

There must come a point where human health, food security, environmental justice, and a functioning ecosystem come before corporate profit. 

President Biden and the cooperating Biden Administration, STOP THE WILLOW MASTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN! 

Cover image courtesy of Protect the Arctic.