Despite the steadfast efforts of Indigenous leaders and climate justice advocates, the Biden administration just approved ConocoPhillips’ Willow project in the Western Arctic, setting the stage for drilling and development that will add more than 280 million metric tons of climate pollution to the atmosphere over the next 30 years and put Alaska Native communities at risk.
Where do we go from here? For starters, we will be taking the administration to court. After a year of record progress on climate, this decision goes against the administration’s own goals on climate and prioritizing environmental justice. It puts fossil-fuel profits and politics over people, and we’ll do everything possible to fight it.
But even from this terrible news, there’s a heartening lesson. The fight is FAR from over. In the last few months, young activists seized the moment to drive more than 5 million comments to the White House, asking the Biden administration to stop the Willow project.
Make no mistake: The Willow approval is a terrible blow to nearby Indigenous communities like Nuiqsut, and to those millions of impassioned young people, including many of you. But the #StopWillow movement, which garnered major coverage by everyone from CNN to The Washington Post, showed just how loud our collective voices can be.
We can and will be using that power to keep fighting back against Willow. We’ll use it to push this administration to start making every leasing and permitting decision through the lens of a comprehensive plan to make public lands part of the climate solution. We’ll use it to ensure our representatives in government—including everyone from Members of Congress to state legislators to county commissioners—make decisions based on the health of our climate, our future and our collective well-being. We’ll continue to call them. Email them. Visit their offices.We’re not going away.
We will be sure to keep you updated on opposition to the Willow project in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, thank you for your energy and support.
