The New York Times reports that the Biden Administration is likely to approve the innocuously-named Willow Project, a massive new fossil fuel extraction operation in Alaska:
In one of its most consequential climate decisions, the Biden administration is planning to greenlight an enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska, according to two people familiar with the decision….
Willow would be the largest new oil development in the United States, expected to pump out 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years. Burning all that oil could release nearly 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. On an annual basis, that would translate into 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution, equal to adding nearly two million cars to the roads each year. The United States, the second biggest polluter on the planet after China, emits about 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Approving a massive new fossil fuel project at this time is, of course, completely insane. It is quite literally “digging our own graves,” to quote UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who himself is merely summarizing the conclusion of the scientific community.
But it’s even crazier than that:
Over the past 60 years, Alaska has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the United States and temperatures there are expected to continue to increase by an average of 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the 30-year life of the Willow project, thawing the frozen Arctic tundra around the drilling rigs.
ConocoPhillips plans to install devices called thermosyphons in the thawing permafrost to keep it solid enough to support the heavy equipment needed to drill for oil — the burning of which will release carbon dioxide emissions that scientists say will worsen the ice melt.
You read that right. Because we’re heating up the planet so quickly with our fossil fuel burning, the plan is to re-freeze the ground so we can drill for more planet-heating fossil fuels. I think this parody ad sums up that plan pretty accurately:
FWIW, this project has not yet been officially approved — there is still time to email and call the White House and express your concerns (and please do — email right now and call them on Tuesday when their comments are open) Because the fact remains that climate change is still a catastrophe in progress, one that — again, according to science — we still have time to avert. From the Guardian:
The world can still hope to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown but only through a “now or never” dash to a low-carbon economy and society, scientists have said in what is in effect a final warning for governments on the climate.
Greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025, and can be nearly halved this decade, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to give the world a chance of limiting future heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.The final cost of doing so will be minimal, amounting to just a few percent of global GDP by mid-century, though it will require a massive effort by governments, businesses and individuals.
But the chances were narrow and the world was failing to make the changes needed, the body of the world’s leading climate scientists warned. Temperatures will soar to more than 3C, with catastrophic consequences, unless policies and actions are urgently strengthened.
Obviously, green-lighting the Willow Project is not compatible with that goal. It is not compatible with promoting the general welfare. It is not compatible with sanity. Please take a moment to contact the President and make that point.
Also: Sign the petition. Over 4.5 million already have — let’s see if we can get it over 5! It’s kind of sad that that’s what it’s come to, but it can’t hurt.