An appeals court in the federal courts has ruled against the motion of the environmental as well as Alaska Native groups that were trying to stop building for the Willow oil field, permitting ConocoPhillips to carry on the winter work on the massive development that is planned for the North Slope.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in an three-page order that was issued on Monday, rejected the motion for an emergency injunction made two weeks earlier by groups who want to reverse an order of the Biden administration’s Willow approval.
The order was made “without any prejudice” which means that the bigger legal issue is still in force, with the validity of arguments in favor as well as against developments to be weighed at a later date.
It is believed that the Willow project, expected to be one of the largest oil fields in the North Slope, would tap to an estimate of 600 million barrels worth of recoverable oil. It could generate as much as 180,000 barrels of oil a day in the estimation of ConocoPhillips along with federal regulators. It would provide a substantial increase to North Slope production that has declined since the peak of 1988 of 2 million barrels per day. Production during the fiscal year that ended June 30th, averaged 479,400 barrels per day as per the state’s officials.
Willow is the focus of a heated debate. Alaska Business and political representatives are promoting it as crucial to the state’s economy and the North Slope’s long-term future as a producer of oil for the long term Environmentalists, on the other hand, are blaming it as a pollution ” carbon bomb” that could undermine U.S. efforts to combat climate change.
For ConocoPhillips the court’s decision confirmed the its ongoing plans.
“ConocoPhillips is happy that it was able to be a part of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused the plaintiffs’ demand for an injunction until the appeal is heard. ConocoPhillips continues with Willow construction while we continue to look over the court’s decision” spokesperson for the company Rebecca Boys said by email on Tuesday.
The company employs 800 people and contractors who are already working on the project. This winter’s work will include the construction of the ice roads, mines, the placement of gravel as well as the construction of pipelines, Boys said. Activities that do not impact the surface, like construction of the road have been in place for a while and so have the delivery from construction material to an staging area she added. Surface-disturbing activities such as gravel mining and installation are scheduled to begin in the month of March, she added.
The Willow supporters in a statement released Tuesday, announced that they will keep fighting regardless of the recent setback.
“It’s regrettable that the court has permitted ConocoPhillips to continue construction in the Willow project despite an ongoing lawsuit accusing that the Biden administration with illegally approving this project in the initial in the first place,” said Bridget Pasrianos the senior staff attorney of the firm of environmental lawyers Trustees for Alaska, which represents the plaintiffs.
“This plan was approved in spite of being aware of the potential harms to communities of Nuiqsut and in spite of being aware that the project could generate huge amounts of greenhouse gasses in a region experiencing climate-related impacts that are a major concern, such as the loss of fish populations and the community infrastructure” She continued by noting the Inupiat village, which is the near Willow. Willow site. “We will do all we can to safeguard our western Arctic and end Willow in the coming weeks and months ahead.”
The ongoing legal battle has been going on since the year 2020 and the plaintiffs have successfully in a court case fought against the Trump administration’s approvals for projects. When the election of President Joe Biden was sworn into office, the agencies of his administration revised the plan and finally agreed to a project which was a bit smaller in size, whittling it down to just three drill locations instead of five sites that were included in the plan approved by Trump.
The critics of the project continue to pursue their legal challenges However, their arguments were dismissed last month through U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason. The plaintiffs appealed the decision of Gleason.
The supporters for the plan have filed amicus briefs that support their support for the Biden administration’s decision to approve the project. Briefs have been submitted to an appeals court from the Alaskan state, the North Slope Borough, the Alaskan legislature and Alaska as well as in particular, the North Slope Borough and the Native-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corp. As well as ConocoPhillips. This appeals court in their most recent decision, also decided to accept additional supporting briefs from are being prepared by Alaska Congressional delegation and Alaska legislature are planning to file.
The court imposed a string of deadlines in the coming months and in January to allow the parties to develop their arguments. This week, on a Tuesday afternoon, the court will schedule oral arguments in the case to take place on Feb. 4. San Francisco.
Willow and its production, which is expected to begin in 2029, will be the furthest west producing crude oil fields within Arctic Alaska.
Since it is on federal land in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska The state will earn the least amount of revenue from the oil produced there than from other North Slope oil fields, that are on state-owned land. The amount to which state revenue would be negatively impacted is under review.
This article first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
