A federal judge rejected last Friday the calls from environmental groups to block winter construction work on Willow.
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Center for Biological Diversity and other groups sued the federal government in 2020 for violating environmental laws when approving the Willow project. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Louise Gleason dismissed the lawsuits.
The conservation groups have appealed Gleason’s decision and asked the court to block the beginning of the construction planned for winter during the appeal.
According to the court documents, the conservation groups stated that BLM didn’t consider a reasonable range of alternatives for the Willow Project and failed to adequately analyze how greenhouse gas emissions from future oil development would affect such species such as polar bears, Arctic ringed seals and bearded seals.
The court found that BLM did consider the reasonable range of alternatives based on the project’s purpose and appropriately analyzed the indirect and cumulative greenhouse emissions impacts of the Willow Project. Gleason also denied the request to halt construction.
The Willow project is located on the North Slope, in the western part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The reserve consists of more than 23 million acres and is the nation’s largest single unit of public land. ConocoPhillips has lease holdings in the northeast portion of the reserve.
The Willow project will consist of three drill sites. Two additional drill sites were disapproved to reduce the footprint of project infrastructure, according to the court documents.
The development is estimated to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, according to ConocoPhillips. The construction of the development might start in late December. The production is expected to start around 2026, according to ConocoPhillips.