The “Willow Project” is a plan by the ConocoPhillips Petroleum Refineries Company to drill into Alaska’s western arctic. This project has become exceedingly popular recently due to how controversial it is. Oil extraction projects much like this one dehome thousands of animals who already are close to extinction.
The Willow Project plans to place over 250 oil wells and 386 miles of pipeline across the West Artic of Alaska. This projected construction will produce 200,000 barrels of oil a day, or through its life of over 25 years, 600 million barrels total. This project is estimated to release 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan states that this project is “one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state’s history.”

Along with these environmental concerns, the project will disrupt the human and animal population. The Inupiaq people of Nuiqsut, Alaska already are bombarded with similar projects. The construction of these lines will cut off clean water in some areas and create a significant loss to food resources. Inupiaq people have also voiced their concerns with the project in a letter. Multiple people make reports of sick fish and weak looking caribou. Inupiaq also are offended at the lack of consideration towards the local populations

Following news of the project’s plan, activists created the hashtag “#stopwillow” trying to raise awareness of the project’s severity. Along with a hashtag, multiple petitions were created with each reaching half of their goal. The Biden Administration has approved the project on March 14th. According to the Biden Administration the project will “limit drilling in some other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.”

Every year another oil drilling project takes place all over the world, destroying the environment. Temperatures rise and so do water levels. If action isn’t taken now, the conditions will only worsen over time. If you want to prevent oil drilling projects, sign petitions or send a letter to your congressional representatives.